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Bush pumps up the faithful
23/10/2004 22:06 - (SA)
Fort Myers - US President George W Bush on Saturday sought to energise his Republican faithful in four of the party's Florida strongholds with a potent cocktail of attacks on Democratic rival John Kerry.
"We both have records. I am proudly running on mine. The senator's running from his, and there's a reason why: There is a mainstream in American politics, and my opponent sits on the far left bank," Bush said here.
The president accused Kerry of being dangerously weak against terrorism, of changing his mind on whether Saddam Hussein was a threat and the war in Iraq was worth it, jokingly suggesting the Democrat had "election amnesia."
The Bush campaign also ramped up its stagecraft, having the president's official Marine One helicopter land in the outfield of the baseball arena where the rally was held, dazzling the pumped-up crowd.
The president and first lady Laura Bush emerged from the green and white chopper to a roar from the audience, as the theme from the action film "Top Gun" played, and was introduced by his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
"This rally is about motivating the troops, to go out and work a little bit harder, just a little bit more, make a few more phone calls, knock on a few more doors," the governor said hoarsely.
Florida holds the richest haul of electoral votes of the dozen or so states that are up for grabs in the November 2 election, with 27. Two hundred and seventy are needed to win the White House.
Bush carried the state by just 537 votes in 2000, and campaign aides told reporters that they hoped to bring more supporters to the polls to "widen our margin."
Outside the sports stadium, where the crowd was a sea of red, white and blue and waved Bush placards, a platoon of protesters brandished signs for Kerry and against the president.
With low-carbohydrate diets still all the rage, one man held a sign that read "No CARB, No Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Bush ... and absolutely no Rice," referring to vice president Dick Cheney, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld, and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
- AFP
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