ST. CLOUD, Minn. – President Bush pressed hard Thursday to undermine Democrat John Kerry as a prospective commander in chief, accusing the Massachusetts senator of waffling on Iraq and sending dangerously misleading signals to friend and foe alike.
Kerry, addressing National Guard veterans in Las Vegas, said it was Bush who was trying to persuade voters with “a fantasy world of spin” rather than telling the truth on Iraq.
“Mixed signals are the wrong signals to send to our troops in the field, our allies and, most of all, our enemies,” Bush said at a rally at a minor league baseball field in St. Cloud as he campaigned through southeastern Minnesota by bus.
Bush also kept up his criticism of Kerry’s health care proposals, saying his rival’s plans would create a multibillion-dollar government enterprise that would restrict people’s choices and drive private companies out of business.
The president campaigned in a state that Democrat Al Gore carried in 2000 and where Kerry is ahead in recent polls – but one that GOP strategists consider highly competitive.
Nationally, Bush has seemed to open a lead in the days following the Republican convention. However, one national poll on Thursday suggested the presidential contest had narrowed again.
While Kerry addressed the same National Guard convention in Las Vegas that Bush had spoken to two days earlier, the president in Minnesota hammered at a favorite theme: that Kerry had continually changed positions on the war in Iraq.
Under indecisive leadership, Bush said, “the world will drift toward tragedy. This isn’t going to happen on my watch.” The crowd chanted, “Four more years.”
Like Bush on Tuesday, Kerry was applauded, especially when he spoke of a need for good pay, equipment and treatment for guardsmen.
The race may be tightening. A new poll from the Pew Research Center said the “bounce” that seemed to propel Bush to a lead just after the Republican convention had disappeared.
In polling from Sept. 8-10, Bush was ahead by 52-40 percent among registered voters and 54-39 percent among likely voters. But in follow-up polling from Sept. 11-14, the center found the race 46-46 among registered voters and 47-46 Bush among likely voters.
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