November 01, 2004
US presidential campaign enters final day
Campaigning in the US presidential election has entered its final day and the latest opinion polls suggest that President George W Bush and the Democratic challenger, John Kerry, are virtually neck and neck.
The candidates are wrapping up their campaigns in the handful of states where just a few votes could make the difference between victory and defeat.
Mr Kerry today ends his campaign in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio.
Posted by State at 02:02 AM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2004
US Presidential Race Focuses on Battleground States in Homestretch
The U.S. presidential election campaign is now in its final week, with both major party candidates reaching out to voters in the few states where the race remains extremely close.
Time is running out for the candidates in an extremely tight race for the White House.
With one party or the other holding a solid lead in many parts of the country, attention is focusing on the so-called "battleground" states where neither candidate dominates.
And so it came as no surprise both Republican candidate George Bush and Democratic candidate John Kerry included Wisconsin in their schedules on Tuesday.
The president spent the day leading a caravan of buses through the small towns in the western part of the state. Traveling in a light chilly rain past trees shedding their last leaves of autumn red and gold, he reached out to fellow Republicans.
For his part Tuesday, Senator Kerry questioned the president's leadership on foreign affairs, referring once again to revelations about 350 metric tons of explosives which have disappeared from a former Iraqi military installation. Mr. Bush has not responded personally to the news, although his aides have downplayed the matter, saying large stores of ammunitions have been destroyed in Iraq and that the missing material does not pose a nuclear proliferation threat.
Posted by State at 04:27 PM | Comments (1)
Bush and Kerry Campaign in Wisconsin
Oct 27, 2004 Washington
As the US Presidential election entered the final seven days before the November 2nd election, both candidates campaigned in the Midwestern state of Wisconsin. During the previous four presidential elections, Wisconsin's 10 electoral college votes were won by the Democratic party candidate, but this year, the race is a statistical dead heat.
Republican President George W. Bush campaigned for Democratic votes during his three stop bus tour in the Midwestern state of Wisconsin Tuesday. He said the Democratic Party was no longer led by men of strength and resolve and that in moments of challenge and decision his democratic Party opponent, Senator John Kerry, has consistently chosen a position of weakness and inaction.
Senator John Kerry accused the President of hiding bad decisions on Iraq. Despite the bad news coming out of that country, Mr. Kerry said, the Bush administration has glossed over the reality of the situation there.
Mr. Kerry campaigned Tuesday on a theme of protecting homeland security and pledged to invest an additional 60 million dollars to screen cargo at ports and on planes and hire more border patrol agents over the next ten years. President Bush focused on domestic issues such as family security, the family budget, and the quality of life, all of which he hoped would resonate with voters on election day.
This article uses material from VOA.
Posted by State at 04:24 PM | Comments (1)
October 20, 2004
Kerry and Bush Remain Tied Among Likely Voters in Wisconsin
George W. Bush and John Kerry remain tied among likely voters in Wisconsin according to a survey by the American Research Group. A total of 47% of likely voters say they would vote for Bush if the presidential election were being held today and 47% say they would vote for Kerry. A total of 2% of likely voters say they would vote for Ralph Nader and 5% of likely voters are undecided.
Posted by State at 06:35 PM | Comments (1)
Time for a Change: Edwards Rallies Supporters
Eau Claire
Oct 19, 2004
John Kerry's right-hand man has a message for voters before they go to the polls. John Edwards was in Eau Claire on Tuesday for a rally. He says health care will be a priority if Kerry and Edwards are elected. They say they plan to make it more affordable. He says that's something President Bush hasn't done. "It's all because George Bush and Dick Cheney have constantly sided with big insurance companies and drug companies. They won't allow prescription drugs into this country from Canada. It doesn't cost anything, except it will bring down prescription drug costs. We think they're dead wrong. We think we need to side with the American people," said Edwards.
Posted by State at 06:29 PM | Comments (1)
Wisconsin: Kerry 48% Bush 47%
October 16, 2004--In Wisconsin, the latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows Senator John Kerry with 48% of the vote and President George W. Bush with 47%. Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik and Independent Ralph Nader each earn 1% of the vote
Posted by State at 06:24 PM | Comments (1)
October 14, 2004
Bush Says It's Kerry Misleading Americans
WAUSAU, Wis. - President Bush (news - web sites) took a sharp jab at his Democratic opponent on Thursday, saying John Kerry (news - web sites) and not the White House was misleading the country about the war in Iraq (news - web sites).
It was the latest example of high-stakes finger-pointing on Iraq and the war on terror, the two overriding issues of this year's presidential election less than four weeks away on Nov. 2.
In Colorado, Kerry said Bush led the nation into war under false pretenses and is in denial about ongoing violence and instability in postwar Iraq. Kerry bluntly asserted that the president and vice president might be the "last two people on the planet who won't face the truth about Iraq."
Bush shot back a few hours later at a campaign rally in Wisconsin. Bush quoted Kerry, who wondered aloud in a speech two years ago whether Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) might invade allies in the region or let the weapons of mass destruction he was suspected of possessing "slide off to one group or another in a region where weapons are the currency or the trade."
"Now today, my opponent tries to say I made up reasons to go to war," Bush told cheering supporters at an outdoor rally. "Just who's the one trying to mislead the American people?"
Several dozen Kerry supporters in the park full of trees with gold and red autumn leaves chanted, "Where are the weapons! Where are the weapons!" Supporters in the crowd, some waving bright yellow `Ws" for Bush's middle initial, shouted "Four more years!"
With a retooled stump speech in hand, Bush was trying on the eve of the second presidential debate to gain back momentum he lost with a subpar performance in the first. Bush scowled and appeared impatient as Kerry criticized the Bush administration on Iraq during that encounter.
At the rally, Bush accused Kerry, as he does in nearly every speech, of changing his mind about the war.
"You hear all of that, and you can understand why somebody would make a face," Bush said, a comment designed to end criticism of that performance at this critical juncture in the race.
Bush stopped for the rally in Wisconsin, which he lost to Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) in 2000, before heading to St. Louis for Friday night's debate and another chance to score points against Kerry.
Kerry holds a narrow lead nationally over Bush in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Thursday. Bush also lost ground on personal qualities, the war in Iraq and national security. The poll results represented a reversal from a month ago when the Republican incumbent had the momentum and a minuscule lead.
Among 944 likely voters, the Democratic ticket of Kerry and Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites) led Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) 50 percent to 46 percent. The Oct. 4-6 survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Posted by State at 01:40 AM | Comments (1)
Bush Sees a Rare Chance to Win Wisconsin
GREEN BAY, Wis. When his arthritic knees woke Mark Winzenried up at 5:30 a.m. recently, the retired postal worker flipped on his television and got another reminder of where his state stands in the tight race between President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry.
As if he needed one.
The first thing I [saw] on the TV is a Kerry ad," said the broadcast news junkie and ardent Democrat. "All day long, all evening, we see 20 [political ads] in a day. Anytime Bush comes on, I turn it off."
The constant din of political advertising is one indication that Wisconsin is prime real estate on the 2004 electoral map. And there are many others.
Both campaigns are beefing up operations here in preparation for the contest's final weeks, and the candidates have been regular visitors. Bush campaigned in Wausau on Thursday en route to tonight's debate in St. Louis. Kerry pitched camp in Spring Green to prepare for the first presidential debate last week.
Although Wisconsin hasn't voted to put a Republican in the White House for the last 20 years, the Badger State could be perilous territory for Kerry. While the polls have seesawed back and forth for much of the year, Bush pulled ahead here in early September, and has remained in front in most surveys since.
All of which is troubling news for the Democrat's calculations nationwide. Kerry could claim the White House even if he lost one or two of the small to mid-size states that Al Gore carried in 2000.
But to do that, he would have to win a major state that Bush carried then Florida, for example, or Ohio. Such an equation, however, leaves little margin for error. And losing Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes would make Kerry's chances for victory far slimmer.
"Bush has a fairly clear lead of a few percentage points," said John McAdams, associate professor of political science at Marquette University in Milwaukee. But "poor performances in the debates or a lot more bad news from Iraq could push the national polls in the Kerry direction and the Wisconsin polls in the Kerry direction."
While Bush advisors here say privately that they are confident of a Wisconsin win in November, Republicans and Democrats alike are operating under the assumption that the race will remain close until the end.
And no place is it more evident than on the state's television screens. So many political ads are airing here particularly by outside political groups called 527s that one Green Bay newspaper columnist begged Bush and Kerry to get the groups to take pity on the state's voters.
"Free speech is a wonderful thing," wrote Tom Perry in the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "But if you gentlemen get a chance, and I know this is asking a lot, maybe you could hint to these special interest groups that they ease up on the gas pedal just a bit between now and election day."
Wisconsin is ranked No. 5 nationwide in television ad spending by the two campaigns and the Democratic National Committee, according to the tracking firm TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG. But a recent analysis by the Center for Public Integrity showed that outside groups spent more on television ads in Wisconsin between June and early September than in any other state in the country.
"It's clearly a place that's going to be close until the bitter end," said Ken Goldstein, director of the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project. "The 527s are here because it's a competitive race and because it's cheaper to play here," so they are able to have a greater impact than in pricier media markets such as Florida.
Impact, however, is in the eye of the beholder. Mike Sprang, a 26-year-old Army veteran from the Green Bay suburb of Ashwaubenon, plans to vote for Bush in November. He acknowledges that the economy could be better, but he respects the president for leading America to war in Iraq and for standing firm behind his principles.
While Sprang is a fan of the president, he's no fan of his ads or anyone else's for that matter. "It's getting to the point it's so redundant," said Sprang, who served in Bosnia. "Bush bashing Kerry. Kerry bashing Bush. You can't get any information on who stands for what."
The ads have done nothing more than scare Danielle Mueller, 23, a waitress at the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame Grill at Lambeau Field. Most of the ads Mueller has seen have focused on the war in Iraq. At least one showed terrorist kidnappings, she recalled, and asked something like: "Would you want Kerry to protect you against these people?"
"It's horrible," she said. "All you see are the commercials. I don't know what [Kerry and Bush] will do for the country. Yes, war is a big issue, but when it's over, what are they going to do for us?
Mueller doesn't have a clue what she'll do about the election, except listen to the debates, try to tune out the ads and pray that inspiration strikes her, soon.
In addition to spending more than $3 million on Wisconsin television between Sept. 3 and Saturday, Bush and Kerry also have bulked up their campaign operations.
Bush now has 40,000 volunteers and nine paid staff members in Wisconsin, said campaign spokeswoman Merrill Hughes Smith, who moved to the state Monday. Kerry spokesman George Twigg said the Democratic field staff began at five members in May and now is approaching 100.
"That includes everything from field organizers to crowd builders to campus organizers," Twigg said. "We are expanding our press operation to every market. We'll continue to add as we go into our get-out-the-vote phase . A testament to the fact that we think the race is so close is that we're investing resources."
Bush has made nine visits to Wisconsin this year, including two in the last two weeks. In Wausau on Thursday, he slammed Kerry for changing his position on the use of military force in Iraq.
"Now my opponent tries to say I made up reasons to go to war," Bush told the crowd, many dressed in Packer green and yellow. "Just who's the one trying to mislead the American people?"
For his part, Kerry has spent about two weeks in Wisconsin since clinching the Democratic presidential nomination in March, including his four days of debate preparation. Even on days when he had few public activities, that late September trip kept him on the newspaper pages and the evening news.
In some ways Wisconsin seems fertile ground for the Democrat, having lost more than 50,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs over the course of the Bush administration. Even though the economic outlook has improved this year, and the state has created more than 80,000 jobs of all kinds, state labor economist Eric Grosso said it would take time for Wisconsin to toss off its sense of economic insecurity.
But Kerry, a reserved New Englander, has had trouble persuading voters in this Midwestern battleground that he's a viable alternative to the folksy Bush. A populist touch is a valued commodity here, and Kerry has had trouble connecting.
When Kerry flubbed the name of Lambeau Field the Green Bay Packers' home and well-nigh sacred ground at a recent Wisconsin appearance, "he played into the idea that he really doesn't understand us, that he's not a real guy," said Georgia Duerst-Lahti, professor of political science at Beloit College.
So it was a good move, even if a transparent one, Duerst-Lahti said, when Kerry took the advice of a columnist for Madison's Wisconsin State Journal, who counseled him in print the day he arrived for debate prep not to "stuff any more facts into that pointy head of yours," and welcomed him to a state she described as "real-guy training camp."
The columnist, Susan Lampert Smith, told Kerry that he should watch the Packers play in a local tavern, keep a lid on the foreign policy talk, take it in stride when everyone remembered that he butchered the name of Lambeau Field and "then buy a round for the bar."
On Sept. 26, the candidate went to the columnist's small hometown of Mount Horeb and did just that. The result: The next day he was all over Page One of the State Journal, where a man who raises rodeo bulls described him as "a good guy, a real human being."
But listening to Barb Thompson and Mike Dineen is to understand why Kerry has struggled here.
Thompson, 55, has just endured the worst year ever at the cozy craft shop she owns in rural Kewaunee. "I don't think Bush has been doing a great job the war, the unemployment, the economy in general," she lamented. But Thompson doesn't like either candidate and might not vote at all.
Dineen, 43 and a restaurant manager, said he blamed Bush for an economy that had "fallen apart." The war in Iraq has gone so badly, he said, that "I'm losing faith . What are we trying to accomplish?"
But Dineen plans to vote for President Bush anyway. "Yes, there are issues in the Bush administration," he said. "But I don't think changing things now would help."
Posted by State at 01:36 AM | Comments (1)