Bush, Kerry visit critical Iowa

I wonder why Nebraska is never visited like Iowa. In any case the President visited are Neighbors to the East the AP reported.


President Bush and Sen. John Kerry battled for Iowa's votes on Wednesday, campaigning less than 100 miles apart.
In Mason City, Bush said that he had inherited from the Clinton administration a stock market in decline, with the economy sliding into recession, and turned it around.
Meanwhile, Democratic challenger Kerry was speaking in Waterloo, 63 miles away. Kerry said Bush's go-it-alone stance in Iraq has made America weaker, not stronger, in the war on terrorism.
In Mason City, Bush told a crowd of about 4,000 people: "I pledged to reduce taxes. I kept my word." That made this recession one of the most shallow in American history, he said.
"The economy is growing as fast as it ever has. Home ownership is at an all-time high," Bush said.
"I love it when more and more people open the door and say welcome to my home. Welcome to my piece of property."
Bush said America needs to build an ownership society, a society in which people own their own homes and businesses.
He said his policies have added 1.9 million new jobs, and the unemployment is lower than in the 1970s, '80s and the '90s.
He said the jobless rate in Iowa is 4.5 percent and the economy is on the move.
"We're not going to go back to the days of tax and spend government," he said.
Bush's visit to Iowa was his 21st since becoming president.
Bush touched only briefly on the war, saying, "Freedom is on the march." He pointed to the recent election in Afghanistan and said a 19-year-old woman was the first to vote.
"People want to be free. That's what you've got to know," he said. "Free societies help us keep the peace. Free societies are hopeful societies. They no longer breed resentment."
In Waterloo, Kerry questioned Wednesday whether Bush is the exemplary leader he claims to be, pointing to the war in Iraq as evidence that he is not.
"This president likes to say he's a leader," Kerry said. "Mr. President, look behind you. There's no one there. It's not leadership if no one follows."
Kerry also promised to reverse mistakes he says Bush made in Iraq.
"If President Bush cannot recognize the problems in Iraq, he will not fix them. I do recognize them and I'll fix them," Kerry said. "All Americans are concerned about the outcome in Iraq. Now, they have a choice. More of the same failed policy. Or a fresh start."
Kerry said U.S. leaders must stop treating other countries with "contempt," driving them away from a role in Iraqi security and reconstruction. He also repeated charges that the president's conduct has made the United States weaker, not stronger, in the war on terrorism.
"America is fighting and must win two wars. The war in Iraq, and the war on terror," Kerry said. "Iraq was a profound diversion from that war and the battle against our greatest enemy, Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida network. But now that we're fighting two wars, we must and we will prevail in both."
The Democrat took his security message to Iowa, one of a dwindling number of contested states that could sway the election. Kerry aide Mike McCurry said Kerry's call for new leadership in Iraq is one prong of their final argument to sway undecided voters who see Bush on the wrong track.
"They are more and more convinced that President Bush does not deserve to be re-elected, and they are trying to get to the point where they can see and embrace John Kerry as the next president," he said.
The speech came on the heels of fierce words from Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney about Kerry's fitness to make national security decisions.
Cheney on Tuesday raised the possibility of terrorists using nuclear weapons against U.S. cities and said Kerry hasn't made the case that he could handle such nightmarish scenarios.
"I don't believe it," the vice president said. "I don't think there's any evidence to support the proposition that he would, in fact, do it."
Bush, a day earlier, said the Massachusetts senator stands for "protest and defeatism" in Iraq and that Kerry would lead the nation toward "a major defeat in the war on terror."
Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, accused the Republicans of trying to scare the voters into re-electing the president. "While they campaign on fear, we're going to talk about the facts," he said.
Kerry planned to visit two other close states, Ohio and Pennsylvania, on Wednesday.
Former President Clinton will campaign for Kerry early next week in Philadelphia, a Democratic official said Tuesday. The Kerry campaign has been discussing appearances in other battleground states by Clinton, who is recovering from heart surgery.