CAMPAIGN FIREWORKS FLY AS POLLS SHOW SENATE IN PLAY

On a day of heated coast-to-coast campaign confrontations, a flurry of surveys showed the battle for a Senate majority heading for a photo finish that could focus on Missouri.

Tuesday’s rapid-fire developments included a sharp collision between familiar antagonists -- the Bush White House and Sen. John F. Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who lost the 2004 presidential election to Bush. And a new controversy erupted in one of the key, and nastiest, Senate campaigns -- the reelection bid by Republican George Allen of Virginia.

Kerry and Republicans, led by Bush, exchanged fire long-distance over whether the senator disparaged American troops in Iraq during a Monday rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides at Pasadena City College.

After urging students to make the most of their educational opportunities, Kerry said, “If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Late Tuesday afternoon, Bush told a crowd in Georgia that Kerry’s remarks were “insulting” and “shameful,” and called on him to apologize to U.S. troops.

The furor over Kerry’s remark and the new flap surrounding Allen reflected the intensity of a crucial midterm campaign in its final days. The series of new polls released in the last two days showed Democrats edging closer to the net gain of six seats they need for a Senate majority -- even as national Republicans launched new campaign advertisements in states where they believe they are gaining ground.

The polling gave Democratic challengers the lead over GOP senators in five states. The race in Missouri between Republican Sen. Jim Talent and Democrat Claire McCaskill -- potentially the race that decides who controls the Senate -- was dead even.

Phil Singer, communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said of his party’s prospects for a Senate majority: “You can see the light, but it’s hardly a done deal.”

Brian Nick, his counterpart at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the polling underscored that control of the Senate would be determined by get-out-the-vote operations. The GOP generally is considered more adept at these efforts, based on its performance in recent elections.

With the outcome of the battle for the Senate in doubt, Democrats remain confident that they are on track to win the 15 seats they need to control the House. But again, Republicans -- though expecting to lose seats -- predict their organizational prowess will help them hang onto a majority in the chamber.

The pointed criticism of Kerry made it clear that the GOP believed he had provided an opening to press its case that Democrats could not be trusted to safeguard America’s national security -- an argument Republicans hoped would turn voters to their side in a number of Tuesday’s House and Senate races.

At a hastily arranged news conference in Seattle before Bush spoke, Kerry said his comment was “a botched joke about the president and the president’s people, not about the troops,” and he renewed his attacks on what he termed Bush’s “broken policy” in Iraq.

Kerry’s office said the Democratic senator had misread prepared remarks, which said: “Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.”

Increasingly, Bush and other administration officials are emphasizing their national message.

At his stop in Georgia, campaigning for a GOP challenger to a Democratic House member, the president said: “You may not agree with Republicans on every issue, but you should also realize what voting Democrat in this election would mean for the war on terror.”

In his criticism of Kerry’s Pasadena comment, Bush said, “The senator’s suggestion that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and it is shameful.”

Saying that U.S. troops “are plenty smart and they are plenty brave,” Bush added that Kerry owed them an apology.

In his statement released after Bush’s speech, Kerry said: “I make apologies to no one about my criticism of the president and his broken policy that kills and maims our heroes in Iraq every single day.... President Bush owes an apology to our troops and to their families for his disaster in Iraq.”

Before Bush took him to task, Kerry was harshly criticized by White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other leading Republicans -- all of whom said the Democrat’s comment impugned the intelligence of those in the military.

In his statement, as he did so often during his presidential campaign, Kerry referred to his highly decorated military service in Vietnam to rebut that charge. “As a combat veteran, I know the dedication, integrity, and commitment of American troops,” he said. “I’ve lived it.”

He also noted -- again as he did frequently during his White House quest -- that neither Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney had been in combat.

Also Tuesday, Sen. George Allen of Virginia faced criticism from Democrats over taped footage showing his supporters tackling a student who approached him at an event in Charlottesville, Va.

Mike Stark, a University of Virginia law student who operates a liberal blog, approached the senator and loudly asked “Why did you spit at your first wife, George?” according to the Associated Press.

Allen was married to Anne Waddell from 1980 to 1984; after their divorce, he remarried.

Three men wearing Allen stickers grabbed Stark, removed him from the hall and threw him to the ground.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee quickly distributed via e-mail a video clip of the encounter from a local television station.

Allen’s campaign did not return calls seeking comment about the incident.

What had seemed a relatively easy reelection bid by Allen has turned into a close contest, in large part because of questions that have emerged about the incumbent.

Allen faced criticism this summer after he referred to a Democratic volunteer of Indian descent videotaping one of his speeches as “macaca,” a word considered to be a racial slur.

Shortly after that incident, a former Allen acquaintance charged that as a young man, Allen often used a racial slur to refer to African Americans -- an allegation the senator denied.

Last week, the Allen campaign sought to tarnish his challenger, Jim Webb, by calling attention to sexually explicit passages in several novels the Democrat had written.

The new surveys of several Senate races showed Democrats holding solid leads against two of their top GOP targets -- Sens. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Mike DeWine of Ohio.

Other recent polls have shown Democratic challengers leading Republican Sens. Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island and Conrad Burns in Montana. But GOP strategists say they believe both incumbents still could win, especially Burns; Bush is scheduled to campaign in Montana for him Thursday.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee on Tuesday purchased a new round of television advertising for Burns -- a sure sign of a competitive race at this point in the campaign.

The committee also launched a new advertising buy in Maryland, where Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, an African American, is opposing Democratic Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin for the seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes.

Many Democrats, expressing confidence they will unseat the Republicans in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Rhode Island and Montana, believe that the party can claim the Senate majority if they capture at least two of the three contests in Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri.

A poll by CNN, completed before Tuesday’s incident, found Webb ahead of Allen, 50% to 46%. Although that advantage was within the poll’s margin of error, it tracked with a new Democratic poll and a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey last week that showed Webb leading Allen.

In Tennessee, a CNN survey released Tuesday showed Republican Bob Corker leading Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr., 52% to 44%, among likely voters, for the seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Bill Frist.

The new polling spotlighted Missouri’s status as the nation’s closest race. A CNN survey showed Talent and McCaskill, the state auditor, tied at 49% among likely voters.

In the last 10 statewide polls compiled on the website RealClearPolitics.com, neither Talent nor McCaskill has held a lead of more than 3 percentage points. That was the margin of Talent’s lead in last week’s Times/Bloomberg poll.

Bush is scheduled to appear for Talent on Friday.

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ronald.brownstein@latimes.com

james.gerstenzang@latimes.com

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In Kerry’s words

Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry drew fire for his comment Monday at Pasadena City College that college students could “get stuck in Iraq” if they did not study hard.

Kerry’s office on Tuesday released his prepared remarks, which said: “Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.”

What Kerry actually said: “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

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Source: Reuters