I LOVE YOU TO DEATH

Michael Schiavo to campaign for Lamont on Friday

By SUSAN HAIGHAP Political WriterJuly 27, 2006, 3:44 PM EDT

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A man who spurred a national debate when he fought to disconnect his brain-dead wife's feeding tube will campaign Friday for U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman's Democratic primary opponent. Michael Schiavo, the husband of Terri Schiavo, will appear at an afternoon news conference in Hartford with Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont.
"I think he represents the feelings of a lot of people that feel the federal government is getting too intrusive," said Liz Dupont-Diehl, Lamont's campaign spokeswoman. "This is a way to point out a very real difference between Ned and Senator Lieberman." Lamont has criticized Lieberman for supporting a bill that allowed a federal court to consider reinserting a feeding tube used by Terri Schiavo, a 39-year-old Florida woman who had been in a vegetative state since 1990. While her parents fought to keep her alive, Michael Schiavo said his wife would rather die. He eventually won in court last year. "To me, that was the last place I want my federal government being," Lamont told The Associated Press in an interview earlier this month. "That belongs to your priest, your rabbi, your doctor, your family, whoever. Not Tom Delay, not Joe Lieberman and not George Bush." Lamont and Lieberman, an 18-year incumbent, are locked in a close race being watched across the country. They face off in an Aug. 8 primary. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 203-58 in favor of the Schiavo legislation while the Senate supported it on a voice vote. "Senator Lieberman has said that this heartbreaking situation illustrates once again the importance of everyone to have a living will," said Lieberman campaign spokeswoman Marion Steinfels. In a 2003 interview with The Associated Press, Lieberman said he supported the Republican-led Florida legislature giving Gov. Jeb Bush the authority to order Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted. "I believe that certainly in cases where there is not a living will ... I feel very strongly that we ought to honor life and we ought not to create a system where people are being deprived of nutrition or hydration in a way that ends their lives," Lieberman said. He called it a "a heartbreaking case." Michael Schiavo has been campaigning against government intrusion around the country. His political action committee, known as TerriPAC, is supporting candidates in Florida, Colorado and Texas. The PAC has raised about $25,000. "The easiest thing would be to move on and let the headlines fade," Schiavo says on his PAC's web site. "But my experience with our political leaders has opened my eyes to just how easily the private wishes of normal Americans like me and Terri can be cast aside in the destructive game of political pandering. The best way to hold them accountable is to make sure voters know where the candidates stand when they come looking for votes next November." Terri Schiavo collapsed in 1990. Her heart stopped and she suffered what doctors said was irreversible brain damage that left her in a permanent vegetative state. Michael Schiavo said his wife had told him she wouldn't want to be kept alive artificially, and in 1998 he asked a court to allow her feeding tube to be removed. Schiavo won final approval to remove the tube in March 2005.