Dash to finish line begins
LAS VEGAS – With the presidential race a dead heat and the number of battleground states shrinking, President Bush and Sen. John Kerry set out on a post-debate push for votes Thursday, aiming to energize their backers and sway swing voters by pouncing on each other’s records.
An enthusiastic Bush began his 19-day sprint to the finish line by lashing out at Kerry, branding him as a liberal who’ll raise taxes and use his health-care plan to expand the role of the federal government.
“My opponent has a history of voting for higher taxes, and he promised to raise them in this campaign. And that’s the kind of promise a Washington politician usually keeps,” the president told a rally at the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Thomas and Mack Center. “We will keep your taxes low.”
Kerry, also in Las Vegas speaking to the national conference of the AARP, laid out a broad case against the president on domestic policy. Aides said they hoped the message would resonate not only with the elderly but also with a wide swath of middle-class voters.
The AARP, the leading lobby for the elderly, also invited Bush to speak to its convention, but even though he was in Las Vegas he sent first lady Laura Bush to address the group. The organization, which has been seen as partial to Democrats in the past, was crucial in helping the president pass a prescription-drug plan for the elderly under Medicare last year. The bill passed over Democratic objections; Kerry has been a critic of the measure as inadequate and favoring drug companies.
“My husband designed a plan to strengthen Medicare and to provide health care for the way we live today for America’s seniors,” Laura Bush said Thursday. “He worked closely with members of AARP and he is grateful for the support of your group.”
William Novelli, the chief executive officer of AARP, who negotiated with Republican leaders over the prescription-drug bill, had this to say about it:
“Millions of Medicare beneficiaries are going to be helped by this law. The law is not perfect, but it exists and now we can build on it … there are a lot of things that can be done to refine the bill and to improve it, but if we hadn’t endorsed it there wouldn’t be any prescription-drug coverage under Medicare.”
But Thursday’s audience was decidedly pro-Kerry, and applauded the senator’s criticism of the law.
As Bush campaigned in Las Vegas and Reno and in Oregon, his campaign aides and Republican officials proclaimed him the victor in Wednesday’s final presidential debate, despite several snap polls that said Kerry won. When asked who he thought won the debate, the president shrugged and said: “The voters will decide.”