Bush, Kerry Hunt Votes

Starting in the pews and fanning across key precincts, President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry spent a last Sunday fighting to pull ahead in their too-close-to-call race for the White House, urging voters to weigh the prospect of change versus its potential risks.

Kerry noted that Bush, during their first debate, repeatedly referred to the “hard work” facing his administration. “Well, Mr. President, I am ready and impatient to relieve you of that hard work,” Kerry declared, triggering a roar from thousands of people who spilled through Manchester’s downtown streets, a few perched in trees to get a better view of the Democratic candidate.

Kerry said the world was “watching and waiting” for the United States to once again be “a country that lifts people up, not bullies. A country that understands how we lead by its moral strength and by its reasoning, not by ideological rigidity and by misleading.”

Bush, campaigning in Florida, repeated his assertions that Kerry was too vacillating and unsteady to lead the nation when the threat of terrorism loomed. “If you believe America should fight the war on terror with all our might and lead with unwavering confidence in our ideal, I ask you: Come stand with me,” the president said.

Bush urged disaffected Democrats to vote Republican on Tuesday. “If you [believe] your great party has turned too far left in this year ... if you are a minority citizen and you believe in free enterprise and good schools and enduring values of family and faith, if you are tired of your vote being taken for granted, come stand with me.”

Several new nationwide polls found the contest a virtual tie. Bush had a slight lead in most of the surveys, but the gaps were well within their margins of error.

A CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll that included its projection of how undecided voters would break Tuesday put the race dead even -- 49% to 49% -- with independent Ralph Nader at 2%.

The period covered by the polls included Friday, when terrorist leader Osama bin Laden resurfaced in a videotaped message. But for the second day running, neither candidate mentioned the videotape.

Bush and Kerry spent most of their day in two of the biggest tossup states, Florida and Ohio. Meantime, their proxies took up their cause on the Sunday morning talk shows. Much of the discussion focused on national security and Bin Laden.

Karen Hughes, a senior Bush advisor, said on the Fox News Channel that it was “shameful” of Kerry to criticize the president for allegedly allowing Bin Laden to slip away during the late 2001 battle at Tora Bora in Afghanistan.

Bob Shrum, a Kerry campaign strategist, responded that Bush was running “a campaign of fear.” Shrum sought to turn the subject to domestic issues, suggesting that “the other part of the equation is fighting for the middle class.”

Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Kerry’s running mate, also spent Sunday scouring for support, with a focus on energizing the army of workers each side was mobilizing to get out their vote Tuesday.

Launching a final campaign swing that will take him through eight states, Cheney echoed Bush by challenging Kerry’s leadership ability. In an appearance before hundreds of party loyalists at the local GOP office in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Cheney said the Democrat’s first response upon learning of the Bin Laden tape “was to go conduct a poll ... to find out what he should say.”

“George Bush doesn’t need a poll to know what he believes, especially about Osama bin Laden,” Cheney said.

Cheney apparently was referring to a question about the tape included in a poll conducted over the weekend by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, an informal advisor to the Kerry campaign.

Bill Burton, a Kerry spokesman, responded to Cheney’s comment by reiterating the campaign’s position that the Bush administration had not been aggressive enough in pursuing Bin Laden. “John Kerry knows what he believes, and that’s Osama bin Laden should be dead or captured,” Burton said.

Edwards spent a whirlwind Halloween exhorting voters to head to the polls, touching down in five critical states -- including Florida and Ohio -- and emphasizing the Democrats’ core message that a vote for Kerry was a vote for change.

Late Sunday afternoon, Edwards knocked on doors in Columbus’ Ward 62, a swing neighborhood in Ohio’s capital. He shook hands, patted babies and posed for pictures on the front lawns of neat split-level homes.

Kerry began his day by going to church twice, starting at Catholic services in Dayton, Ohio, and then -- for the fifth straight Sunday -- worshiping with a predominantly black congregation.

Kerry, who is Catholic, was greeted warmly, if not exuberantly, by about 500 worshippers who filled the pews of the Shiloh Baptist Church, the largest African American congregation in Dayton. Black political leaders have criticized the Kerry campaign for not doing more to create enthusiasm for his candidacy among African Americans, a key Democratic constituency.

Kerry did not mention Bush by name, but pressed his case that Republican pronouncements of faith were not followed up by deeds.

“I look around me in America, and I see things like you see that frustrate me -- that raise questions about value systems,” Kerry said. “I hear politicians talk about values, but I don’t see them, when they talk about family values, actually valuing families the way we ought to be.”

Kerry’s swing through Dayton -- where he tossed around a football with aides at a high school and chatted with undecided voters over buttermilk pancakes at a diner -- kicked off a fast-paced final 48 hours for his campaign, with nine stops scheduled in five states.

In New Hampshire, he was joined by three executives of the Boston Red Sox, the newly crowned World Series champions. On hand were principal owner John Henry, Chairman Tom Werner and General Manager Theo Epstein, who all called on New Hampshire residents to devote the same energy to electing Kerry that they lent to supporting the Red Sox.

Bush also began his day in church, attending Catholic services for the first time in his presidency. He received a spiritual endorsement from Msgr. Jude O’Doherty, leader of Church of the Epiphany in Miami. “I want you to know I admire your faith and your courage to profess it,” O’Doherty told Bush during the services. “Your belief in prayer and dependence on God is an example to all of us.”

After church, Bush headlined three political rallies in Florida. His campaign rallies have generally aimed more to encourage the faithful than convince the undecided, but Sunday’s events were different. Two of the rallies, in Miami and Gainesville, were centered in Democrat-dominated areas. And a rally in Tampa was in the so-called “I-4 corridor” that stretches to Orlando and Daytona and is considered a tossup region.

“There are a lot of Democrats supporting my candidacy. There may be some here,” Bush told a cheering crowd at an exposition center in Miami. “You know the Democrat Party left you -- you didn’t leave it.”

Bush’s appearance in Miami was largely aimed at Florida’s Cuban American community, traditionally a solid GOP bloc but one that has shown some signs of becoming more hospitable to Democrats.

Bush promised he would work to rid Cuba of “the tyrant” -- a reference to President Fidel Castro.

“Over the next four years, we will continue to press hard and ensure that the gift of freedom finally reaches the men and women of Cuba,” Bush said as the crowd erupted into chants of “Viva Bush!” “We will not rest. We will keep the pressure on until the Cuban people enjoy the same freedoms in Havana they receive here in America.”

At all three rallies, Bush repeated what aides hoped would be the clinching argument for his campaign: that he was trustworthy, and that electing Kerry would be a risky move.

“These are historic times, and there is a lot at stake in this election,” Bush told the crowd in Tampa. “The future and safety and prosperity of America are on the ballot. Ultimately, this election comes down to who do you trust -- who do you trust to lead this nation. I offer a record of leadership and results at a time of threat and challenge.”

After his appearance in Gainesville, Bush flew to Ohio for an evening rally in Cincinnati.

Today, he launches his final offensive, visiting five hard-fought states -- Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Minnesota and New Mexico -- before ending the day in his home state of Texas with a late-night rally in Dallas.

Kerry planned to open election eve with a morning rally in Orlando. Then he heads to Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, before spending the night in La Crosse, Wis.

Times staff writers Mark Z. Barabak, Edwin Chen, Maria L. La Ganga, Jonathan Peterson, Richard Simon and David Willman contributed to this report. Gold traveled with the Kerry campaign and Reynolds with the Bush campaign.