Lieberman sides with Democrats 'for now'

WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Ind.-Conn., says he's siding with the Democrats "for now" even as he campaigns for presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

Lieberman, tapped by Al Gore to be his running mate in 2000, told USA Today he also hopes to persuade disappointed supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., to back McCain and will deliver a speech on the Arizona Republican's behalf during the GOP convention in Saint Paul, Minn., in September.

Lieberman has helped Democrats maintain majority control in the closely divided Senate by caucusing with them -- and Democrats kept him in his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee.

Denied the party nomination for senator in his home state, Lieberman was re-elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 as an independent. Lieberman told USA Today he votes at times with Republicans and at times with Democrats, saying he isn't "comfortable with any political party."

"For now, I've decided to stay and fight for the kind of security policy, foreign policy that I think the party stood for when I joined in the '60s," Lieberman said.

Asked whether he would be a Democrat "forever," Lieberman said, "You know, forever is a long time."