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Henrie's Recipes
Bush, Kerry in campaigning frenzy
Stephen Collinson
Posted Sat, 23 Oct 2004
The US presidential rivals stepped up the already manic pace of their campaign marathon on Saturday, just 10 days before the US election.
Democrat John Kerry was scheduled to woo Hispanic voters in the western states of Colorado and New Mexico Saturday, then cross two time zones for more appearances in the crucial state of Florida the following day.
President George W. Bush also faced a jammed schedule: four election rallies in Florida Saturday, then a 1610-kilometer trip west to spend the night at his ranch in Texas before stumping in New Mexico on Sunday.
Ten states seen as crucial
The rival candidates are locked in a desperate battle to win support in the 10 battleground states expected to decide the November 2 election. Key among those is Florida, which has 27 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency and a too-close-to-call race.
In Reno, Nevada late on Friday, Kerry accused Bush of trying to make the election about "just one issue", national security, but added that he was ready to wrestle.
"Let's talk about what happened when you let Osama bin Laden escape in Afghanistan, let's talk about what happened when we had the world's number one terrorist cornered in the mountains of Tora Bora," he told a rally at the University of Nevada.
He said Bush outsourced the job of capturing bin Laden out to Afghan warlords "who just one week earlier were fighting us".
"Can you imagine trusting them when you have your 10th Mountain Division, the United States Marine Corps?"
Bush sets the wolves on Kerry
Bush set the wolves on Kerry in a new television advertisement Friday that Kerry's running mate John Edwards called "despicable".
A female narrator accuses Kerry of being dangerously weak on national security, while a pack of wolves -- standing in for terrorists -- prowl menacingly onscreen.
"And weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm," the narrator says.
The Kerry campaign quickly fired back, calling the ad "desperate" and accusing Bush of using "the politics of fear to try and distract from President Bush's failed record on the economy and Iraq".
"It won't work. This only reminds people that it's time for a fresh start and a new direction in America," spokesperson Chad Clanton said in a statement.
Kerry responds
By late Friday, the Kerry camp had its own response ad running.
"To make America safer, we can no longer go it alone in the world," the ad features Kerry saying, looking directly into the camera, after a montage of a US flag being hoisted and an eagle gliding on the wind.
"We need to move in a new direction. When it comes to protecting our nation, I will stop at nothing to find and kill the terrorists. If I'm president America will always have the strongest military.
"But I will return our foreign policy to the values that have always earned us the respect of the world."
Bush earlier stepped up his attacks in speeches in Ohio and Pennsylvania, seizing on a comment by a senior Kerry adviser that the war on terrorism declared after September 11, 2001 was a "just a metaphor".
"I've got news: Anyone who thinks we're fighting a metaphor does not understand the enemy we face, and has no idea how to win the war and keep America secure," he said.
"You cannot lead our nation to decisive victory on which the security of every American family depends if you do not see the true dangers of the post-September the 11th era," Bush said.
Bush gains on Kerry
Bush gained on Kerry in a new Time magazine poll out Friday in which 51 percent of 1200 likely voters said they would vote for Bush, 46 percent for Kerry and two percent for independent consumer crusader Ralph Nader. The poll had an error margin of plus or minus three percent.
Last week's numbers were 48 percent for Bush, 47 percent for Kerry and three percent for Nader.
Bush also maintains a thin lead over Kerry in the decisive battle for electoral votes, according to a new CNN analysis that shows Bush earning 277 to Kerry's 261.
To win the White House, a candidate must amass 270 of 538 electoral votes doled out by states following the popular vote.
Most states appoint electors on a winner-takes-all basis to the candidate who earns the majority of the direct popular vote in the state.
Nevada has just five electoral votes, Colorado has nine, and New Mexico has five, but the race is so tight this year that such "small" states could be decisive.
