Candidates visit battleground states for last-minute support

MILWAUKEE – President Bush was leaving and Sen. John Kerry was arriving as their motorcades… MILWAUKEE – President Bush was leaving and Sen. John Kerry was arriving as their motorcades passed within a block of each other at the airport here Monday afternoon, a perfect snapshot of the last frenetic day of campaigning in the race for the White House.

Both candidates crammed their schedules full of appearances to chase votes – and local media coverage – in strategic markets as polls showed the contest a statistical draw, likely to be decided by unpredictable and modest shifts of opinion in its closing hours.

In the cold rain near Milwaukee City Hall, Kerry asked a few thousand supporters to help him send the nation in “a new direction,” and he seemed to be in a reflective mood as the curtain came down on his two-year quest.

“This is a kind of magical moment,” Kerry said. “You guys are all wet and bundled up; you’re the best. … I will never forget this rally in the rain.”

On the final full day of campaigning, Bush went on a five-state, seven-city swing, which culminated in a massive homecoming rally in Dallas at Southern Methodist University’s Moody Coliseum. At each stop, Bush told supporters that the election comes down to a fundamental issue: “Who do you trust?”

The president said he was the steadier hand on the economy and in the struggle against terrorism.

“Who do you trust to make tough decisions? Who do you trust to lead this country to a better tomorrow?” Bush said during an early morning rally at an airport hangar in Wilmington, Ohio. “If you believe that taxes should stay low so families can pay your bills and small businesses create jobs, I ask you to stand with me.”

Kerry visited six cities in four states – Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan – and argued that Bush had abandoned the middle class, squeezed between falling wages and rising prices for health care and education, in favor of granting tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.

At a send-off rally on the tarmac of the Orlando, Fla., airport, Kerry blasted Bush for doing nothing as 5 million people lost health care coverage in the last four years and for refusing to allow the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.

“This is the choice. This is the moment of accountability for America and it’s the moment where the world is watching what you’re going to do,” Kerry said. “All of the hopes and dreams of our country are on the line today.”

Bush appeared upbeat and energized Monday, appearing for a rare chat with the reporters traveling with him on Air Force One.

“We’re coming down the stretch,” Bush said after landing in Burgettstown, Pa., near Pittsburgh. “It’s like that marathoner … that finish line is in sight. And I want to assure you I’ve got the energy, the optimism and the enthusiasm to cross the line.”

For his part, Kerry’s voice was hoarse and he fell asleep on his first flight of the day, but he has seemed loose and his aides are confident.

Late Sunday night, Kerry was searching for pumpkins he had saved to carve for Halloween, only to be told that the Federal Aviation Administration had said they had to be removed from his plane. Asked what he was dressed as for the holiday, Kerry said, “My costume is future president.”

Vice President Dick Cheney spent the last campaign day of his long political career on his home turf: the American West.

At rallies in Colorado Springs, Colo., Las Vegas, Reno, Nev., and finally, his hometown of Jackson, Wyo., Cheney hammered home the same theme – safety in the aftermath of Sept. 11 – that he’s done for months on the campaign trail.

He relentlessly attacked Kerry’s character and questioned his commitment to fighting terrorism, and he extolled Bush’s handling of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“If you want a president who will fight the terrorists on the offensive and never relent in protecting our country, send George Bush back for four more years,” Cheney told a boisterous, if thin, crowd in Colorado Springs.

Sen. John Edwards took the campaign to some of the most Republican parts of the battleground states on Monday, looking to pick up votes from stray Republicans.

The Democratic vice presidential candidate touched down in Cincinnati and Pensacola, Fla. – two GOP strongholds – to thank Ohio campaign volunteers and speak at a Florida airport rally.

“We think we can pick up some voters there,” said Peter Scher, Edwards’ traveling campaign manager. “If you look at these areas, they’ve lost a lot of jobs (during the Bush administration), and a lot lost their health care.”

Bush won’t stop campaigning until Tuesday. After voting in the morning at a firehouse in Crawford, Texas, he’ll fly to Columbus, Ohio, to meet with campaign volunteers working to get out the GOP vote.

Kerry also was planning to begin Tuesday with a campaign stop in La Crosse, Wis. He was scheduled to have his traditional Election Day lunch of chowder at the Union Oyster House in Boston and await returns at his home on Beacon Hill.

It could be a while. Both sides had teams of lawyers ready to keep contesting the election in close states long after the polls close, if necessary.

Ron Glass, 37, a firefighter at the Kerry rally in Orlando, was already resigned to not hearing a result Tuesday night.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to know until the lawyers figure it out two months from now,” said Glass, of Ocoee, Fla.

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(Fitzgerald, of The Philadelphia Inquirer, reported with the Kerry campaign, Douglas was with the Bush campaign. Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondents Matt Stearns of the Kansas City Star was with Cheney and Tim Funk of The Charlotte Observer was with Edwards.)

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(c) 2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.