WASHINGTON -- There can no longer be any doubt: Kissing is definitely in.

A week after Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore boosted his popularity with a lingering kiss for his wife Tipper at his party's convention in Los Angeles, his running mate, Joseph Lieberman, Thursday joked about his own efforts to break what he called "the current world record."

Lieberman grabbed his wife Hadassah for a longish kiss after she introduced him at a fund-raiser at the swanky Mayflower Hotel in Washington, prompting her to feign a struggle to get away.

"I don't want you to think there's any kind of competition on this ticket, but I told Hadassah we are not going to stop until we reach seven seconds, which is the current world record," Lieberman told 20 of his closest friends, who raised $1 million for Democratic coffers at the dinner event.

Even Gore, who also made an appearance at the fund-raiser, had to laugh at Lieberman's antics.

The normally reserved Gore won major brownie points in public opinion polls for the kiss he planted on his wife's lips just before accepting the Democratic presidential nomination.

The kiss was unusually long and passionate for a political pair, and discussion of it kept the pundits busy for days.

Some Republicans dismissed it as a crass and calculated ploy to win votes and make the vice president more likable, while others such as CNN moderator Bob Novak declared it "disgusting."

Gore, quizzed about it on NBC's "Today" show, insisted the smooch was "completely spontaneous."