Candidates Attack Each Other Along Debate’s Themes

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The New York Sun

LAS VEGAS – President Bush criticized Senator Kerry as a liberal trying to hide from his own record yesterday as the two men entered the last post debate lap of a close race for the White House. The Democratic challenger said his rival “fights, literally, for the privileged few.”


“I believe we need a president who will fight for the great middle class and for those who are struggling to join it,” Mr. Kerry added.


The ubiquitous polls made the race a statistical tie as Mr. Bush and his Democratic rival plunged into the final 18 days of campaigning. That marked an improvement in Mr. Kerry’s national standing over the course of three presidential debates – even though Democratic officials confirmed West Virginia and its five electoral votes were written off as lost.


And there were veiled hints of concern within the Bush high command as the campaign entered what the president called a “sprint to the finish.” Marc Racicot, campaign chairman, told reporters the Democratic challenger had helped himself during the face-to-face encounters. “I think it was temporary,” Mr. Racicot said.


Messrs. Kerry and Bush both campaigned in Nevada during the day, a state with five electoral votes and one of roughly a dozen still competitive in the final days of the race.


The four-term Massachusetts senator unleashed an attack on the Medicare legislation that Mr. Bush signed into law last year, saying it was “full of empty promises and special interest giveaways.”


Mr. Kerry also faulted the prescription drug card benefit that took effect this year, a transition to a full overhaul of the Medicare program that he said does little to lower the cost of drugs.


“The truth is that after doing nothing to really lower the cost of prescription drugs for you, the president is now telling you that he solved the problem. Right. And those weapons of mass destruction are going to be found any day now,” he said with sarcasm.


Mr. Bush’s after-debate message was simple – Mr. Kerry is a liberal who will raise taxes, increase government spending, stick with the status quo on Social Security, and give other countries too much say in the use of American troops overseas.


“My opponent wants to move in the direction of government-run health care,” the president added. “I believe health decisions ought to be made by doctors and patients, not officials in Washington, D.C.”


Attempting to pin the liberal label on Mr. Kerry, he added, “Now he dismisses that as a label. Must have seen it differently when he said to a newspaper, ‘I’m a liberal and proud of it.'”


Apart from the public rhetoric, the two sides readied their campaign endgame strategies.


For Mr. Bush, according to White House officials, that will mean stepping up his effort to portray Mr. Kerry as a flip-flopper and a liberal with few accomplishments in the Senate. At the same time, officials said the president will play to one of his campaign strengths – his wartime leadership. He intends to travel to New Jersey next week to deliver what aides call a major address on terrorism.


The state hasn’t voted for a Republican since the presidential election in 1988, but New Jersey is just across the river from New York City and it suffered a significant loss of life when terrorists struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.


Mr. Kerry, having performed well in the debates, hopes to use the final 2 1 /2 weeks of the campaign to persuade voters that he is a safe replacement for Mr. Bush in an era of terrorism. The effort will include a series of speeches designed to cast the senator as the champion of the middle class – as he said during the day – and depict Mr. Bush as the defender of the elite.


Final figures showed that 51 million Americans watched at least part of the final presidential debate.


The New York Sun

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