Bush, Kerry hit the road again
2004-10-14 15:03
Las Vegas - United States President George W Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry on Thursday trained their sights on the battleground state of Nevada after clashing on Iraq, terrorism, health and the economy in their third and final head-to-head debate.
Kerry checked into the gamblers paradise late on Wednesday night after making the short hop from Tempe, Arizona, where he slugged it out for 90 minutes with Bush.
The Massachusetts senator was due to give a speech to senior citizens before leaving the balmy southwest to head east to Iowa, another state which analysts believe he must win to claim the White House.
Bush was also due in Las Vegas on Thursday for a series of campaign rallies.
Weak on terrorism
During Wednesday's debate, Bush charged that Kerry was weak on terrorism; favoured higher taxes and government-run health care; and sat on "the far-left bank" of US politics.
Kerry countered that Bush had let Osama bin Laden slip away because of his focus on Iraq; abandoned the US middle class in favour of cutting taxes on the richest Americans; and short-changed efforts to secure US borders.
National polls have shown the two candidates running neck and neck, with just a handful of battleground states truly up for grabs in the race to secure the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House.
That may change, with instant polls showing Kerry won the third debate.
Fifty-two percent of those polled by CNN said Kerry came out ahead in Tempe, compared to 39% who said the same about Bush.
A survey by ABC News showed Kerry ahead 42% to 41%, while a CBS News poll gave him 39% to 25% for Bush and 36% called the debate a tie.
The Democrat accused Bush of letting bin Laden - the mastermind behind the al-Qaeda network that carried out the September 11 2002 attacks - get away, pointing to Bush's comments six months later that he was unconcerned about his fate.
"Gosh, I just don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. It's kind of one of those exaggerations," responded Bush, who has repeatedly accused Kerry of being fickle and unreliable on national security issues.
Performances criticised
Within moments, Kerry's campaign sent reporters a quotation from a March 13 2002 press conference in which the president said of bin Laden: "I truly am not that concerned about him."
Leading US newspapers said the debates between Bush and Kerry had fulfilled their purpose by helping Americans learn more about both candidates.
But they criticised the performance of both men.
"True, both men tried to score cheap shots, and they hewed to their talking points even when their answers didn't quite fit the topic," The New York Times said in an editorial.
"But it's hard to believe that anyone who watched with attention didn't come away with a good handle on who John Kerry and George Bush are, what they believe, and how they would approach running the country."