STAMFORD (USA), Jan 13: Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman declared on Monday he would run for the US presidency, seeking to be the first major party Jewish presidential nominee in U.S. history.

Lieberman, 60, who made history in 2000 as the first Jew drafted as a vice presidential candidate when he shared the losing Democratic ticket with Vice President Al Gore, told a small audience at his alma mater, Stamford High School, that he was running to “make the American Dream real again.”

Freed by Gore’s decision not to make another bid for the presidency, Lieberman told the crowd of well-wishers, “I am ready to announce today I am running for president in 2004.”

“In the coming months, I want to convince Americans that I have the strength, the vision and the values to lead our nation to higher and safer ground,” he added.

“The American Dream is in jeopardy,” he told the crowd of well-wishers, “threatened by hateful terrorists and tyrants from abroad and a weak economy that makes it harder for Americans to live a better life.

Connecticut’s senator since 1988, Lieberman joins a field of Democratic candidates that already includes Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and civil rights activist Al Sharpton.

Comparing the coming campaign with the race he ran with Gore, Lieberman said similar issues such as economic reform, the environment and educational reform would arise but added, “This gives me an opportunity to do it my way.”

The two Democrats won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote in their race against Republicans George Bush and Dick Cheney.

Lieberman said he had asked for Gore’s support, but did not expect the former vice president to endorse anyone this early in the campaign. “I would be honoured by his support, but I’ve got to earn it,” he said.

Wasting no time taking aim at the Bush administration, he said: “This president, I’m afraid, made a promise to come to Washington to change the tone, and the reality is the place is more partisan and polarized than ever.

“The country doesn’t benefit from the poor economic record, from the failure to fund education reform, the inability to improve our health care system and from the slowness with which the president has responded to the threat to Americans here at home from terrorism.”

An Orthodox Jew, Lieberman said he experienced no bigotry during the 2000 campaign and expected none ahead.

“I have confidence that the American people are too smart and too aware of how tough times are to judge a candidate for president on anything other than his or her record, ability and ideas and values,” he said.

Lieberman voiced criticism of Bush’s domestic policies, saying his economic stimulus plan will put the nation further in debt, and his foreign policy, saying the way Bush has handled North Korea “made a difficult problem into a dangerous crisis.”—Reuters