STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Aiming his rhetoric at the American heartland, Sen. Joe Lieberman said that his support for the war in Iraq and his opposition to gay marriage make him the best Democrat to pry Oklahoma’s voters away from President Bush.

It’s been 40 years since a Democrat won this state, and its new prominence in the primaries brought six of the party’s nine candidates to Oklahoma State University.

Lieberman strived to separate himself from the others, despite occasional boos from the youthful crowd, numbering nearly 6,000.

On Iraq, the Connecticut senator said some of his opponents “run the risk of sending a message that they don’t know a just war when they see one.”

That drew boos, as did his opposition to same-sex marriages. In response, Lieberman suggested that that his moderation would play well off campus.

“These Oklahomans and people all over America should vote for me because I am an independent-minded Democrat,” he said. “I am the one Democrat who can take Bush on where he’s supposed to be strong — security and mainstream values.”

That would better position him to take on Bush’s “right-wing agenda,” Lieberman said.

Lieberman said his traditional values would make him stand out as the other candidates moved left. “To not be willing to speak from the core of mainstream values and occasionally mention God’s name as a source of inspiration for our country, that’s a mistake,” he said.

Oklahoma has not voted for a Democrat for president since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.