Bush, Kerry draw up battlelines

2004-09-30 09:32

Miami - President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry dig in for Thursday's crucial one-on-one televised debate, with the Democratic challenger aiming to turn the tables on Bush's lead in recent in opinion polls.

Bush enjoys a modest lead in most polls of five to eight points heading into the first of three face-offs expected to draw tens of millions of viewers - many of them undecided on their vote on November 2.

Kerry, who has a history of firing up stalling campaigns in their final weeks, promised the truth would come calling for Bush, once the two men stepped into the spotlight Thursday at the University of Miami.

He tried to get his retaliation in first - defending his position on Iraq, before leaving the Wisconsin retreat where he sharpened his knives for Thursday's session on foreign policy and national security.

Bush and vice-president Dick Cheney had presided over a disinformation campaign to "hide their failures" 34 days before the election, he told supporters in an open letter.

"But you and I know better. We know that the truth is catching up with them," Kerry said.

Bush 'rushed into the conflict'

Kerry, a four-term senator from Massachusetts, voted in October 2002 to give Bush the green light to go to war against Iraq, but has since argued the president rushed into the conflict, without a plan to win the peace.

His vice-presidential running mate, John Edwards, lit into Bush ahead of the debate, during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania.

"It's a test for whether this President is finally going to be straight and come clean with the American people over what is happening in Iraq," Edwards said.

The president, using official duties to political advantage in a battleground state, toured Florida orange groves pummelled in three hurricanes since August which killed 100 people and wreaked billions of dollars in damage.

Bush snatched a disputed victory in Florida four years ago, and the state, with a tenth of the 270 electoral voters needed to win the presidency, is again a must-win for both men.

While the president dispensed sympathy, his aides turned up the heat on Kerry, in the latest attacks of a bile-filled campaign, skewering the veteran senator on Iraq.

"He changed again," said Bush communications adviser Karen Hughes, referring to an interview given by Kerry to ABC television.

"He now says, six weeks after saying I would have voted the same way, he now says no, he wouldn't."

Bush meanwhile, aware that many Americans like to feel a personal connection with the man they vote for, polished his image on the daytime television show of advice guru "Dr Phil."

He came across as a doting father and husband, in an interview filmed along with his wife, Laura, at their Texas ranch in July.

The show is due to air a Kerry interview next week, as both presidential challengers woo crucial women voters who form "Dr Phil's" devoted following.

- AFP