www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/08/politics/main641817.shtml
He stayed up late cheering his hometown tea m onto victory, then got up for a 7 am hunting trip at a supporter's p roduce farm. Meanwhile, President Bush returns to his favorite campaign destination, P ennsylvania, on Thursday to talk about health care. On a bus tour from Downingtown to Hershey, the president will pitch his p lan to curb rising medical costs by limiting malpractice awards. He'll a lso renew his charge that Kerry's plans to expand insurance coverage rep resent more big government. With polls showing a close race in Pennsylvania, Mr Bush is stumping har d in the state. The tour is his 40th visit to the Keystone State as pres ident. He's also expected to continue attacking Kerry's assertion that Iraq was a diversion from the war on terror. Mr Bush says such remarks show a "f undamental misunderstanding" of the threat America faces.
CBS News/New York Times survey, Mr Bush leads Ker ry 47-45 among likely voters, with Ralph Nader taking 2 percent. The lat est Washington Post tracking poll has Mr Bush up 50-47 percent, and a R euters/Zogby survey has the president with a 46-45 percent advantage. Al l those polls have the men within the respective margins of error. The yet-undecided states of Pennsylvania and Ohio are among the most hotl y contested as the candidates race to gain the 270 electoral votes neede d to win Pennsylvania has 21 and Ohio has 20. Kerry's hunting trip was part of an effort to win over swing voters who m ay be open to voting against President Bush but aren't sure they feel an y connection with Kerry. While the Democrat campaigns as an all-American, his political opponents are working to leave voters with a different impression. Mr Bush tells voters that Kerry is on the "left bank'' of society, opposing a constitu tional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Kerry does not support same-s ex marriage but says the matter is for states to decide, and he favors c ivil unions for same-sex couples. "We stand for marriage and family, which are the foundations of our socie ty," Mr Bush said Wednesday in Mason City, Iowa. "We stand for the Seco nd Amendment, which protects every individual American's right to bear a rms." The National Rifle Association said it bought a full-page ad in Thursday' s Youngstown newspaper that says Kerry is posing as a sportsman while op posing gun-owners' rights. Kerry has denied NRA claims that he wants to "take away" guns, but he supported the ban on assault-type weapons and r equiring background checks at gun shows "If John Kerry thinks the Second Amendment is about photo ops, he's Daffy ," says the ad the NRA said would run in The Vindicator. It features a l arge photo of Kerry with his finger on a shotgun trigger but looking in another direction. Labor unions have been circulating fliers among workers that say Kerry wo n't take away guns. "He likes his own gun too much," says one of the fli ers from the Building Trades Department of the AFL-CIO that features a p icture of Kerry aiming a shotgun. Kerry's aides said he spent about two hours hunting at a blind set up in a cornfield. More than two-dozen journalists were invited to the farm ou tside of Youngstown to see Kerry emerge from the field, but none witness ed Kerry taking any shots. Bob Bellino , a board member for the local Ducks Unlimited; and Neal Brady, assistan t park manager of Indian Lake State Park in western Ohio. Each of his co mpanions carried a dead goose on the way back, while Kerry walked beside them with his 12-gauge in one hand and the other free to pet a yellow L abrador named Woody. Later Thursday, Kerry was to appear with actor Christopher Reeve's widow, Dana, in Columbus, Ohio. Reeve supports Kerry's intention to expand fed erally funded embryonic stem cell research, which her late husband belie ved may have brought hope for spinal cord injuries like the one that lef t him a quadriplegic for the last nine years of his life. This material may not b e published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
With 13 days to go until Election Day, the candidates headed to battl eground state Iowa, where they exchanged barbs over who would make the n ation more secure, reports Jim Axelrod.
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