AVENTURA, Fla. - Former Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman took his campaign to drum up support for Republican John McCain on Thursday to a Florida Jewish deli partly owned by an Egyptian-born Muslim.

For Lieberman,  a Jewish senator from Connecticut who describes himself as an “independent Democrat,” Mo’s Bagels, which serves up Jewish classics like cream cheese and lox but is named after co-owner Hussin Mohamed, was a fitting venue for a politician willing to disregard political labels. 

Lieberman, Al Gore’s running mate against George W. Bush in 2000, crossed party lines to back McCain, who is battling former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and others in a Jan. 29 Republican presidential contest in Florida, the fourth most populous U.S. state.

“Being a Jewish deli, we didn’t think calling it Mohamed’s Bagels and Deli would work so well, so we called it Mo’s,” quipped co-owner Paul Kruss, himself a Venezuelan-born Jew and a McCain supporter.

“I happen to be a registered Republican but I am one of those in the mushy middle, like most Americans fairly independent, I believe in certain principles and values.”

Lieberman chatted with customers in Mo’s, located in Aventura, north of Miami, where many Jews live.

“Florida is going to be very important to the nomination. If John can win South Carolina, which I think he will, and then he wins Florida he will have a clear path to the nomination,” Lieberman told reporters while sipping from a mug of coffee.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi (Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain jokes with Sen. Joe Lieberman during a campaign appearance in Derry, New Hampshire, on Jan. 3)