WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Obama has told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid he's not interested in seeing the Democrats oust Connecticut's Joe Lieberman from their ranks over his endorsement of Republican John McCain.

Obama told Reid in a phone conversation last week that expelling Lieberman from the Democratic caucus would hurt the message of bipartisanship and unity that he wants for his new administration, a Senate Democratic aide said Tuesday. This aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential.

The caucus is the meeting of all Senate Democrats and at the beginning of each Congress it chooses the body's leaders. Lieberman, a longtime Democrat mostly recently re-elected as an independent, has continued to join the Democratic caucus.