At the Finish Line

At stop after stop, the exuberance of Sen. John F. Kerry’s supporters was palpable Monday as his campaign did one final lap around Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio.

“This election’s outcome is in your hands,” the Democratic nominee told several thousand supporters who braved a cold, wind-swept rain in downtown Milwaukee to hear him speak. “This is your chance to hold George Bush accountable, my friends.”

“One more day!” the crowd yelled.

Kerry’s last day of the campaign was set to stretch about 20 hours, starting with an early-morning All Saints Day Mass with his sister, Peggy, in Orlando, Fla., and ending around 2 a.m. Tuesday in La Crosse, Wis.

At an airport rally in Orlando, Carol Crawford, 56, captured the bitterness among Democrats over the vote fiasco of the 2000 election.

“The Republicans came in and robbed it,” she said, waving a T-shirt showing Kerry’s face in the presidential seal. “Florida’s going to tell the country what they thought of 2000 -- if they don’t steal it again.”

At the street rally in downtown Milwaukee, Kerry supporters waved soggy campaign signs reading, “One More Day to a Fresh Start.” Kerry told them “the hopes of the whole world are on the line” in the presidential vote.

Wearing his Boston Red Sox cap and mustard barn jacket, Kerry stood alongside his soaked grown daughters, Vanessa and Alexandra, the two hugging one another to keep warm.

On Iraq, jobs, education and other matters, Kerry summed up his long-standing attacks on President Bush’s policies and pledged to change course.

“One more day!” the crowd chanted.

“I tell you, it may be one more day,” Kerry said, “but I promise you this: I will never forget this rally in the rain here in Milwaukee.”

Law student Elizabeth Graham, 23, clutched a wet and torn “It’s Up to the Women” sign with her mittens. She said Kerry’s event was worth her three-hour wait in a driving downpour. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she said.

At each stop, Kerry played up local appeals, including the Green Bay Packers’ win Sunday in a game against the Washington Redskins.

“Every presidential election since 1936, when the Redskins lose [their final home game before an election], the incumbent loses, so I want to thank the Packers and Wisconsin for helping me out,” he said. “And in 1960 it was Wisconsin that lifted John Kennedy over the top into the presidency, and I’m counting on you in 2004.”

At a Detroit hockey arena, singer Stevie Wonder warmed up the crowd by playing “America the Beautiful” on the harmonica. He voiced sorrow over the Iraq war, saying, “My heart is in pain for all of those, our soldiers, who have died.” He also questioned the war’s cost. With the war money, Wonder said, “we could have 1,000 new elementary schools in this country.”

“I’ve had a lot of good experiences in this campaign, but I’ll tell you, it doesn’t get better than having Stevie Wonder open for me,” Kerry said.

Outside Cleveland City Hall, more than 50,000 people showed up for Kerry’s final rally with rock star Bruce Springsteen. The singer dedicated “Thunder Road” to a Sept. 11 widow from New Jersey who he said had fought the Bush administration’s “stonewalling” of the independent commission that investigated the terrorist attacks.

After his set, Springsteen introduced the candidate and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, and called to cheering people, “Vote for change!”

Aboard Kerry’s plane, his advisors emphasized confidence in his prospects for defeating Bush. Among strategist Bob Shrum’s remarks to reporters: “We’re going to win Wisconsin,” “I think we’ll win Pennsylvania,” and “In Florida, the momentum is with us.”

“I feel good,” Shrum said. “Because I think we’re going to win.”