Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in 2000, urged Democrats to cross party lines Tuesday night and cast their votes for Sen. John McCain of Arizona, telling them they could “always count on him to be straight with you about where he stands and to stand for what he thinks is right regardless of politics.”

“What, after all, is a Democrat like me doing at a Republican convention like this?” Lieberman asked.

His answer: “I’m here to support John McCain because country matters more than party.”