WASHINGTON – One Senate Democrat called Condoleezza Rice a liar yesterday and others said she was an apologist for Bush administration failures in Iraq, but she remained on track for confirmation as secretary of state.

Ms. Rice, who has been President Bush’s White House national security adviser for four years, was one of the loudest voices urging war, Democrats said. She repeatedly deceived members of Congress and Americans at large about justifications for the war, said Senator Dayton, a Democrat of Minnesota.

“I don’t like impugning anyone’s integrity, but I really don’t like being lied to,” Mr. Dayton said. “Repeatedly, flagrantly, intentionally.”

Ms. Rice is expected to win confirmation today. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Republican of Tennessee, predicted that Ms. Rice would have “an overwhelming majority” of votes.

Senator Lugar, a Republican of Indiana, cautioned against “inflammatory rhetoric that is designed merely to create partisan advantage or to settle partisan scores.”

Ms. Rice would succeed Colin Powell, who often found himself on the outside looking in with Mr. Bush’s close circle of war and national security advisers.

By contrast, Ms. Rice is a trusted Bush loyalist. As a principal architect of the Iraq invasion and the administration’s war on terrorism, she shares blame for overstating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, Democrats said.

Politicians rarely use the word “lie,” preferring some of the milder terms other Democrats used yesterday.

“There was no reason to go to war in Iraq when we did, the way we did, and for the false reasons we were given,” said Senator Kennedy, a Democrat of Massachusetts.

Ms. Rice is not directly responsible for intelligence failures prior to the Iraq war that overestimated Saddam’s nuclear capability, said Senator Levin, a Democrat of Michigan. “But she is responsible for her own distortions and exaggerations of the intelligence which was provided to her,” he said.

The Senate set aside most of the day yesterday to debate the Rice nomination after Democrats revolted against a plan to confirm Ms. Rice last week.