Lieberman hails Gore as man of `vision and values'

Published Thursday, August 17, 2000, in the Miami Herald
Lieberman lauds diversity

VP candidate hails Gore as man of `vision and values'

BY MARK BOWDEN AND JODI A. ENDA

Herald Washington Bureau

LOS ANGELES -- Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew with a reputation for moral rectitude, crashed through a historic barrier Wednesday night as he accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president, hailing Al Gore as a man of ``vision and values.''

``Only in America,'' Lieberman declared, marveling at his success. ``Right? Only in America.''
The Connecticut senator's speech electrified the delegates who packed the Democratic National Convention's hall and hailed him -- the first Jewish candidate on a major party's national ticket -- as proof that theirs is the real party of diversity.

Lieberman spoke just minutes before a roll call of the states nominated Vice President Gore as their presidential standard bearer and launched the ticket on its fall campaign.

Florida Sen. Bob Graham, who saluted the state's ethnic and cultural diversity, formally sealed the nomination of Gore with Florida's 186 delegates late Wednesday night.

Lieberman sparked one of the first genuine displays of emotion at the convention, as delegates waved thousands of vertical red signs that read ``Lieberman.'' The crowd cheered him as he entered to the strains of Chariots of Fire, a film about the successes of a Jewish distance runner despite prejudice.

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