Bush, Kerry Try to Stir Up Support in Los Angeles Area

President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry campaigned across Greater Los Angeles on Thursday, the challenger trying to solidify his lead in Democratic-leaning California while the incumbent hoped to close the gap as he basked in the glow of Republican icons -- Nancy Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The president received a much-desired endorsement from President Reagan’s widow outside her Bel-Air home, then traded friendly quips with the California governor at a Santa Monica fundraiser. Kerry, meanwhile, told an audience at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson that Bush’s claims that the economy had “turned the corner” were painfully untrue.

The dueling appearances in the state that will award 55 electoral votes on Nov. 2 took a couple of improbable turns: Kerry reversed the tables on the income-tax-slashing president by suggesting that Bush might impose a huge sales tax increase, and Bush acknowledged that Kerry was “justifiably proud of his record in Vietnam.”

Kerry holds a double-digit lead in California, according to recent polls, and Democratic strategists scoffed at the notion that Bush could win here. But the president told a gathering of 500 Republicans dining in a hangar in Santa Monica that he would return and fight hard for California votes.

“Nobody should take this state for granted in 2004,” Bush told the audience, which raised $3 million for the Republicans’ get-out-the-vote effort. “I intend to compete in California.”

The president made an afternoon visit to Nancy Reagan, a Republican favorite whose support for Bush had been questioned since she criticized the president’s stance limiting stem cell research.

The death of President Reagan from Alzheimer’s disease increased Nancy Reagan’s determination to clear the path for such research. The former first couple’s son, Ron, pounded home that message in a speech last month at the Democratic National Convention.

But Thursday, Nancy Reagan, Bush and First Lady Laura Bush met for an hour and then emerged to address reporters. The president said he and his wife were “honored to pay our respects.” Reagan offered, “I’m so glad you came,” and later issued a statement with her strongest endorsement to date for the president, expressing “hope that everyone will join” in supporting Bush’s campaign.

On Thursday evening, the Bushes were joined by Schwarzenegger inside a hangar decorated with large U.S. and California flags.

“It’s fantastic to be with all of you here tonight to salute our great president, George W. Bush,” Schwarzenegger said in his brief introductory remarks. “I just want you to know, President Bush, how hard I’ve been working for you here in California.

“I’ve been organizing Republicans for Bush-Cheney. I’ve been organizing Austrian former bodybuilders for Bush-Cheney. I’ve been organizing girlie men for Bush-Cheney.”

The crowd roared its approval particularly to the final line, a reference to the governor’s recent slam on the California Legislature, whose failure to pass a budget he attributed to the presence of “girlie men.”

Bush reprised his joke from the first time he met Schwarzenegger. “The governor and I have a lot in common. We both married above ourselves,” Bush said. “We both have trouble with the English language. We both have big biceps. Well, two out of three ain’t bad.”

Schwarzenegger sat rapt during Bush’s 36-minute address. The president beamed and seemed to be enjoying his time with the former movie star.

“If I had to put a motto or slogan on Gov. Schwarzenegger, I would say he’s a guy who got the job done,” Bush told the audience. “He came to this important state and he got the job done. That’s how I hope people view me, as well, as the president: came to the Capital and got the job done.”

Kerry, addressing an audience of about 400 on the Carson campus Friday morning, seized on Bush’s words, mocking his suggestion about the improving economy and accusing him of taking aim at the middle class by considering a national sales tax.

The Massachusetts senator said that he, in contrast to Bush, would support a sweeping business tax cut, a leaner federal government and changes in the federal tax code to provide greater accessibility to healthcare, child care and higher education.

He promised to slash the federal deficit in half in four years and to end tax benefits for companies that send American jobs overseas, and to use the money to reward companies that hire at home.

The Democratic presidential hopeful was scornful of Bush’s assertions about economic growth following a recession and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“The Americans I’ve met over the course of the last weeks and months not only don’t think we’ve turned a corner, they think they’ve been backed into a corner,” Kerry said. “Backed into a corner of rising unemployment, exploding deficits ... falling wages and of too many jobs going overseas.”

Among those watching the 35-minute address were Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn and former Gov. Gray Davis. Davis received a rousing ovation from the partisan crowd.

Much of Kerry’s speech recycled material, but his repudiation of a national sales tax was new. And it had the Democrat -- rather than the Republican president -- sounding like an anti-tax crusader.

Earlier this week, at a Florida campaign stop, Bush said that replacing the income tax with a federal sales tax was “an interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously.” Kerry took those remarks to suggest that Bush was actively weighing “one of the largest tax increases on the middle class in American history.”

“We know exactly who that’s going to hurt,” Kerry said. “That’s going to hurt small business. It’s going to hurt jobs.”

Although administration officials had quickly distanced the president from the remark, saying the plan was not something Bush would pursue in a second term, the president was more equivocal when asked about the issue on “Larry King Live.”

Bush suggested that the barbs about a sales tax were politically motivated, then implied he would not take such an action. But he added: “Well, it’s an option that some people think is a viable option. I just said it’s an interesting idea. I do think we ought to look at ways to simplify the tax code.”

He seemed incredulous at attacks on his tax record, saying: “I’m the guy that believes in reducing taxes and keeping them low. It’s the other fellow that says he’s going to raise taxes, and I think it’ll be a mistake to raise taxes now.”

King also pressed the president about an advertisement belittling Kerry’s military record. Bush did not denounce the ad, but called his opponent’s military service “noble.”

Kerry’s speech in Carson was part of a continuing attempt to move to the middle, reaching out to the independent and still-persuadable voters that both sides covet. Aides said it kicked off a two-week campaign focus on economic issues.

Kerry emphasized the pay-as-you go nature of his economic plan, and said 98% of Americans would see no change in their tax bills while 99% of businesses would enjoy a tax cut.

He promised to shrink the federal government by reducing bureaucracy, eliminating 100,000 surplus contractors and “cutting government agencies that have outlived their purpose.”

To help ease the burden on small businesses and the middle class, Kerry proposed a 50% tax credit to help companies with 50 or fewer employees pay for healthcare for new hires. And he proposed tax credits to help middle-income Americans pay for college tuition, healthcare and child care.

“After four years of shifting the tax burden ... from those with the most to those struggling to make ends meet, John Edwards and I understand it’s time that America’s tax code reflected America’s moral code,” Kerry said, to a prolonged ovation.

A spokesman for the Bush campaign, Steve Schmidt, scoffed at Kerry’s promises. “John Kerry’s numbers don’t add up,” Schmidt said, suggesting the Democrat had spent the money from repeal of the Bush tax cuts “more times than anyone can keep track of.”

Kerry’s 35-minute speech coincided with a new public opinion poll offering worrisome news for Bush on the economy.

The survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that two-thirds of respondents rated the national economy as “only fair” or “poor.” The poll found that voters expressed more confidence in Kerry than Bush to improve the economy, by 52% to 37%.

The visit was Kerry’s 36th to California since the beginning of 2003. Bush has come to the Golden State a dozen times since taking office in January 2001.

Earlier in the day, in Las Vegas, Bush explained his controversial decision in favor of a permanent nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. “When I campaigned in this state, I said I would make a decision based on science, not politics ... and that’s exactly what I did,” Bush said.

He accused Kerry of political expediency in once voting for the dump and then promising Nevadans this week to block construction. Kerry has voted against the Yucca Mountain facility repeatedly, although an earlier vote on an omnibus energy bill allowed the project to go forward.

Times staff writers Zeke Minaya, James Rainey and Susannah Rosenblatt contributed to this report.