DES MOINES (AP) - Former Iowa Senate President Jeff Lamberti has endorsed Arizona Senator John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination.

Lamberti also will serve as a co-chair of the senator's Iowa campaign.

He says McCain is a proven leader who believes in smaller government, responsible spending reform and traditional values.

Lamberti was a state senator from Ankeny and a Republican nominee for Congress in central Iowa's Third District in the last election. He lost to Congerssman Leonard Boswell, a Democrat.