Like Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Kerrey supported the toppling of Saddam Hussein early on and said that the region was safer without him in power. But he added: “Do I think invading Iraq helped the war on terror? No, I do not. I think it reduced the threat in the region, which was serious.”

His comments put Mr. Lieberman in an awkward position. Mr. Lieberman declined to say whether he believed that the war in Iraq had helped the war on terror.

Initially, Mr. Lieberman cited Mr. Kerrey’s comments about Saddam Hussein, saying that overthrowing him had helped make the Middle East safer, but he conceded that terrorists had “poured into Iraq now.”

Then, pressed by reporters, Mr. Lieberman answered, “It’s a more complicated question than that, and it doesn’t have a yes-or-no answer.”

"The Nixon analogy is a very poignant one to me, because I remember him running with a `secret plan for peace.' That was in 1968. He ran and won re-election in 1972, four years later. And it wasn't until three years after that, that troops were finally gone," Kerry said. "Half the names on the Vietnam wall, folks, were put there after our leaders knew the strategy was bankrupt and it wasn't going to work."

Kerry said that was immoral then. He added, "I think to engage in that same delusion today is equally as immoral."

Kerrey, the former Nebraska senator, endorsed Lieberman, despite sounding closer to Lamont on the war. He said the U.S. is losing the conflict, and the occupation of Iraq hurt the war on terror.

"We cannot be the Iraqi police force forever," Kerrey said, calling it an inappropriate use of U.S. military. "At some point you've got to say to the Iraqi people, `It's yours.'"

His comments left Lieberman in the awkward position of trying not to contradict a war hero who had just endorsed him. He declined to say whether the U.S. was losing in Iraq.

"We're involved in quite a campaign," [Lieberman] told about 50 friends, political allies, family and campaign staff members. "The public-opinion polls are good. Our internal polls are not quite as good, but they're good."...

His words echoed the GOP's midterm election talking points against Democrats. Despite mounting bipartisan criticism of the war, the White House continues to frame the issue to portray the opposition party as weak on terrorism and security.

In an interview Tuesday on National Public Radio, Bush's political guru, Karl Rove, implied a vote for Lieberman is a vote for winning in Iraq.

Rove said Lieberman's support grew in the days leading up to the August primary, which he attributed to voters considering the "consequences to America of winning or losing" in Iraq.

When the three candidates in Connecticut's celebrated Senate race met for their final debate on Monday night in New London, only one of them appeared to be having a good time.

It was not Ned Lamont, the tense and fidgety businessman who had captured the Democratic nomination as an opponent of the Iraq war. It was certainly not Joseph Lieberman, the three-term Democratic senator who had lost the primary to Lamont because of his support of that war and is running as an independent. Lieberman looked exhausted and exasperated by his situation, even though polls show him to be in front.

No, the only person who was relaxed, good-humored and reveling in the moment was Alan Schlesinger, the bulky Republican nominee whom no one gives a chance of winning....

Lieberman insists he is not wholly in the Bush camp but still argues that a victory in Iraq is possible and essential for American security -- whatever that may mean. "I'm not ready to give up on the Muslim world," he said, adding that a democratic Iraq could serve as a model for the Middle East. His winning and returning to the Senate and its Democratic caucus would slow, if not reverse, growing pressure from the Democrats for an early pullout of U.S. forces....

...Lieberman is an exhausted veteran, barely able to conceal his irritation at having to fight for a seat he feels that he owns. When challenged on his record, he turns testy.

Their weaknesses were exposed by Schlesinger's good humor. But theirs is the fight that counts -- and it counts a lot.