BRIDGEPORT, Conn., July 23 — With their race quickly becoming a national symbol of rifts in the Democratic Party , Senator Joseph I. Lieberman and his challenger, Ned Lamont, are turning to national political figures to help bolster their campaigns for the Aug. 8 primary.

Ned Lamont, in tie, also campaigned in Bridgeport Sunday, as he and Representative Maxine Waters of California, right, chatted with State Senator Edwin A. Gomes. They were attending a party supporting breast cancer research at the home of Marilyn Moore, in glasses.

President Bill Clinton will visit Waterbury on Monday to campaign for Mr. Lieberman, who is fighting the perception that he is too closely aligned with President Bush.

As he stood outside a church after a campaign stop here on Sunday afternoon, Mr. Lieberman borrowed the phrase that many political analysts have used to describe his campaign to retain his Senate seat.

Mr. Lamont, on the other hand, spent the weekend campaigning side by side with Representative Maxine Waters, another California Democrat, who founded a group called the Out of Iraq Caucus in the House. Representative Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat, also campaigned for Mr. Lamont on Saturday.

Mr. Lamont will counter the Clinton visit on Monday by announcing the endorsement of Carl S. Feen, a former Lieberman campaign official and a Clinton appointee who lives in New Haven .

The visits from so many elected officials put the race's importance to the Democratic Party into sharp focus. At separate campaign events just a few miles apart on Sunday, both Mr. Lamont and Mr. Lieberman said they had the future of the party at heart.

With the primary just over two weeks away, polls of likely primary voters show Mr. Lieberman and Mr. Lamont, a wealthy cable executive from Greenwich, in a virtual tie.

Ms. Waters, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who has criticized Mr. Lieberman for supporting school vouchers and for questioning affirmative action, said she was certain that a win by Mr. Lamont would “shake up,” “focus” and “reshape” the Democratic Party and would help it choose a “progressive candidate” for the 2008 presidential election.

Mr. Clinton's appearance could buoy Mr. Lieberman's campaign, his advisers say, particularly among undecided voters and Democrats who may not already be planning to vote in the primary.

Both the former president and his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, support Mr. Lieberman but say they will back the primary winner. Mr. Lieberman is preparing to run as an independent in November if he loses to Mr. Lamont in the primary.

Mr. Lamont, who has described himself as a “big fan” of Mr. Clinton, said he saw the visit as a simple sign of Mr. Lieberman's longtime friendship with Mr. Clinton. The two have known each other for more than three decades, when Mr. Clinton worked on Mr. Lieberman's campaign for the State Senate.

When asked how much effect the out-of-state support would have on Connecticut voters, Mr. Lamont held out his thumb and index finger, as if to say, just a pinch.

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