The Greenwich-born Jepsen spent 12 years representing Stamford and Darien in the state Senate -- six as majority leader -- before running unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2002 with Bill Curry....

Jepsen has known Lamont for more than two decades.

"This is a very unpleasant and difficult decision to make," Jepsen said. "I like Joe Lieberman personally, but you reach a point . . . It's not just the war. It's Terri Schiavo, access to morning-after pills for rape victims, civil liberties, the mounting deficit. A whole series of issues where you just realize you're in profound disagreement with Joe."...

Stamford Democratic City Committee Chairwoman Ellen Camhi said Jepsen's involvement with Lamont will probably make it difficult for some city's voters to pick a side.

The Lamont campaign said Tuesday it is budgeting $6 million for the general election, the same as it spent on the primary - with one major difference: Lamont, after writing $4 million in checks to his own campaign, hopes to put away his checkbook.

As the Democratic nominee, Lamont now believes his campaign will have access to funding sources and labor support that had been unavailable to him as the little-known challenger of a national political figure, said Tom Swan, Lamont's campaign manager.

Later, in appearance with Wolf Blitzer on CNN, Mr. Lieberman said that the war in Iraq had not undermined the credibility of efforts to deal with terror threats. Mr. Lieberman also said that he did not believe Iraq was already in a civil war, a term Mr. Lamont uses regularly.