f only Joseph Lieberman were half as good as his press clippings, one might believe that the Gore campaign really is casting aside big-government liberalism and moving to the political middle ground.

Alas, he isn't. Over the past 24 hours, the national media has portrayed Lieberman as a pro-growth fiscal conservative who constantly tries to push the national Democratic party in a more moderate direction. But here's the reality: On budget issues, Joe Lieberman — like Al Gore — is about as big a spender as you'll find in Washington. His lifetime National Taxpayers Union rating earns him the grade of F. He votes with taxpayers a whopping 8 percent of the time. This is a man who never saw a government program he didn't like. He voted for the omnibus and supplemental appropriation bills of 1999. He supports the Kyoto treaty.

The contrast between Lieberman and Dick Cheney could hardly be more dramatic. Cheney's House record was that of a staunch fiscal conservative; the press is constantly obsessing about it. Lieberman's spending record, however, has been as staunchly left-wing, but he is somehow described as a "conservative Democrat."

Some political analysts describe Lieberman as a Democrat supply-sider on tax policy. Certainly there is much to admire about Lieberman's record in this regard. He supports school vouchers, capital-gains tax cuts, free trade, welfare reform, and enterprise zones for inner-city renewal. Perhaps his greatest service to his country was in beating Republican (in name only) Lowell Weicker for Connecticut's U.S. Senate seat in 1988. (They cheered at the RNC the night Lieberman won, and Washington was rid of Weicker once and for all.) The Almanac of American Politics notes that Lieberman "has come to occupy a unique place in the Senate, exerting influence out of proportion to his seniority, committee position or political clout, an influence that comes from respect for his independence of mind, civility of spirit and fidelity to causes in which he believes. In a bitterly partisan time he is one of the least partisan Democrats on Capitol Hill. . ."

That's high praise — but it's not the whole story. Lieberman's record on growth issues is schizophrenic at best. He has some truly lousy votes that pollute his resume. He supported the two biggest tax increases of the past 20 years: the1993 Clinton tax hike and Bush's 1990 budget deal. He voted against the GOP tax cut last year. He voted against much of the Contract with America legislation.

Gore and Lieberman have quite possibly endorsed more federal programs than any presidential ticket since Johnson-Humphrey in 1964. This is a big-government ticket. They will run as "new Democrats," but all that has been reinvented is the packaging.