SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Returning to one of his most cherished and provocative themes, Sen. Joseph Lieberman called Tuesday for a greater role for religion in public discourse, as a source of shared moral principles and an antidote to "the vacuum of values" in American culture.

Lamenting that it has become unacceptable in many circles to discuss religion, Lieberman, the Democratic nominee for vice president, said in a speech at the University of Notre Dame that "we have gone a long way toward dislodging our values from their natural source in moral truth."

"Without the connection to a higher law," he said, "it becomes more and more difficult for people to answer the important day-to-day questions that test us: Why is it wrong to lie or cheat or steal? Why is it wrong to settle conflicts with violence? Why is it wrong to be unfaithful to one's spouse, or to exploit children, or to despoil the environment, or defraud a customer, or demean an employee?"

Lieberman has long campaigned against vulgarity and violence in films, music, television and computer games, and he and Gore have proposed government restrictions on marketing such material to children if the entertainment industry does not change its ways voluntarily.

Cheney company faces another controversy

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Republican vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney visited an alternative-fuel research firm Tuesday as his campaign aides sought to deflect allegations that his former company defrauded the U.S. government out of millions of dollars.

Accusing the Clinton administration of playing politics with a federal grand jury, a Cheney spokeswoman questioned the timing of the criminal investigation into possible financial wrongdoing by Brown & Root, a Texas-based engineering firm overseen by Cheney until July.

"The timing is suspicious, particularly so given the Clinton-Gore administration's proclivity to manipulate the justice system for its own political well-being," said Juleanna Glover Weiss, a spokeswoman for Cheney.

Federal officials declined to comment on the investigation into Brown & Root's role as a primary contractor in the closure of the Fort Ord military base.

BUSH CONTRIBUTION: George W. Bush's presidential campaign contributed $1-million each to the Republican House and Senate campaign committees Tuesday for the final days of the battle to preserve their majorities. The money was left over from Bush's primary campaign, one Republican official said. Bush's options included giving it to charity, another political committee or returning it to donors.

Nader backers pull ads

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- With a tightened presidential race in California, Ralph Nader supporters pulled ads promoting him in California newspapers out of concern that votes for him could cost Al Gore the state.

Greg MacArthur, a New York businessman paying for full-page advertisements to boost support for Green Party candidate Nader, decided Tuesday to pull those that were to run in California's largest newspapers this week.

The ads said "a vote for Nader is not a vote for Bush" and were aimed at Nader backers worried they could tip the election to Republicans.

MacArthur's decision came a day after a Public Policy Institute of California poll showed Bush trailing Gore by 5 percentage points, down from 9 points last month.

CLINTON SPEAKS: Voters who don't believe that a woman's right to have an abortion is at stake in this presidential election are wrong, President Clinton said Tuesday. "We're just a vote or two away from reversing Roe vs. Wade," he said.

At a forum sponsored by the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way, Clinton said the outcome of the election will affect other future decisions by the judiciary as well.

"(The debate) about the role of the national government and the range of personal, privacy-related individual rights will only intensify in the years ahead and will be swung decisively one way or the other depending on the outcome," Clinton said.

"To pretend otherwise is to be like an ostrich with your head in the sand."

Carnahan's widow touted for Senate seat

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's new governor said he will appoint the widow of Mel Carnahan as senator if she wants it and the late governor receives more votes than Sen. John Ashcroft in the Nov. 7 election.

Two weeks before Election Day, Gov. Roger Wilson announced that Jean Carnahan was his choice to fill the Senate vacancy that would occur under such a scenario.

But he said Mrs. Carnahan, whose husband and oldest son died in a plane crash last week, "indicated that was certainly not a decision she was ready to make at this time, and I respect that."

Officials have said it was legally too late to remove Mel Carnahan's name from the ballot. The tight and sometimes bitter battle with Ashcroft was seen as a key race in the Democrats' effort to retake control of the Senate.

Republicans -- who have toned down campaigning because of the crash -- criticized Wilson.

"This is politicizing of a tragedy," said Ann Wagner, state GOP chairman.

Republican leaders warned that Wilson's promise could be illegal under federal law, which bars pledges of appointments to win votes in congressional races.

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