HARTFORD, Oct 25 — Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut has used the phrase “stay the course” several times in discussing the war in Iraq in recent years, echoing a key phrase of the White House, contrary to an article published Tuesday in The New York Times....

In recent weeks, Mr. Lieberman has called for different tactics in Iraq.

The White House said Monday that President Bush was no longer using the phrase “stay the course” when speaking about the war.

Calling Lieberman's recent pronouncement that he wants to end the war in Iraq an "election eve Nixonian declaration," Lamont then excoriated the senator in front of a sympathetic crowd of college students and veterans at the University of Hartford.

"It was Richard Nixon, for instance, who told the country way back in 1969, `I want to end the war' and then pressed forward with Vietnam for three more years and a cost of 9,000 more American lives," Lamont said. "Sen. Lieberman saying now, two weeks before an election, that he suddenly wants to end the war is as credible as Richard Nixon was almost 40 years ago."

The Nixon references in Lamont's speech Tuesday were accompanied by the campaign's release on Tuesday of a lengthy online ad that compares several statements Nixon made in 1969 about the Vietnam War with statements Lieberman has made in 2006 about Iraq.

The statements by Nixon and Lieberman that are used in the ad, which is being played on YouTube, are similar in both tone and content. For example:

Nixon: "An announcement of a fixed timetable for our withdrawal would completely remove any incentive for the enemy to negotiate an agreement. They would simply wait until our forces had withdrawn and then move in." - Nov. 3, 1969

Lieberman: "If you tell your enemy when you're going to leave, they'll wait and create disaster." - July 6, 2006

"Iraq is Joe's war of choice, and he's been its strongest and staunchest supporter every step of the way," Lamont said in a speech Tuesday at the University of Hartford. "And in the greatest act of audacity of all, he is now asking Connecticut voters not just for a fourth term, but to hold him harmless for his role in the most dangerous foreign policy blunder of our generation."

The criticisms were some of Lamont's strongest yet of Lieberman.

Lamont recalled that during the Vietnam War, former President Nixon voiced support for bringing the troops home even as he continued to pursue the war at a cost of 9,000 lives. He noted Lieberman has spoke recently of wanting to end the war as soon as possible.

"That's about as credible as Richard Nixon was almost 40 years ago," he said.

Ned Lamont’s campaign put up an Internet ad that draws a parallel between President Richard Nixon’s statements on Vietnam in 1969 and statements made by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman on the Iraq war....

Lamont, who beat Lieberman in the Democratic primary in August, Tuesday also delivered another talk on Iraq, in which he continued the Nixon parallels and said Lieberman’s plan, to keep American troops in place to assist the Iraqis until they can stand up for themselves, is not an exit strategy.

"Now, virtually everyone but Joe Lieberman sees that we need to change course, have the Iraqis determine their future and move from involvement in a civil war to bolstering stability in the region. Iraqis will only stand up when American troops begin to stand down. That is how we end this war," Lamont told several hundred cheering students at the University of Hartford.

(East Hartford-WTNH, Oct. 25, 2006 6:22 AM) _ Massachusetts senator and former presidential hopeful John Kerry visits Connecticut today to rally behind the state's Democrats. He'll join Senate candidate Ned Lamont at the first of a series of town hall meetings to speak directly with voters.

Sen. Kerry, who made a run for the white house and lost to President Bush in 2004, will help Lamont kick off those town hall meetings.

Like Lamont, Kerry is well known for his opposition to the war in Iraq. After the Connecticut primary, Kerry blasted Sen. Joseph Lieberman for continuing in the race as an independent. Kerry accused Lieberman of adopting the rhetoric of Vice President Dick Cheney on the issue of Iraq.