Posted on 10/17/2004 5:11:16 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
XENIA, Ohio — Sen. John hunted for votes yesterday in the nook and crannies of the Buckeye State, telling crowds in farm country and jobstrapped southern Ohio that President Bush is deceiving them about the economy and the Iraq war.
Joking that he will be in Ohio so often before Nov. 2 that "I’m about to have my mail forwarded here," Kerry beseeched voters to believe their eyes, and not Bush, when assessing whether they are better off now than four years ago.
"George Bush has a very simple strategy when it comes to reality: Ignore it, deny it and then try to hide it," Kerry told a rowdy crowd of 2,700 in the Xenia High School gymnasium.
As the campaign rushed toward Election Day with an ever more negative tone, Kerry opened a new front in his attack, blaming the Bush administration for the flu-vaccine shortage, saying it ignored three warnings of an impending flu crisis from government agencies and health experts dating to 2001.
"Because of their failure to act, we’ve got a shortage of 48 million flu vaccines in America," Kerry charged.
Bush campaign spokesman Kevin Madden called Kerry’s charge "incredibly hypocritical" and said Kerry voted against a bill last year that would have encouraged more vaccine production.
Speaking last night to 8,000 people on 89-year-old Maggie West’s farm enveloped by autumn-colored hills near Wakefield in Pike County, Kerry renewed his criticism of Bush’s handling of the Iraq war, pledging: "I’ll make America safe, and I’ll get those troops home from Iraq with honor and success."
Kerry, clad in the barn jacket he wore last winter in Iowa en route to winning the caucuses, sought to connect with socially conservative Ohioans on a bus tour through areas Bush carried in 2000, making several "impromptu" stops thick with symbolism.
At the Garringer Family Pumpkin Patch 20 miles east of Xenia, Kerry bought pumpkins and gourds from Larry Garringer, a supportive Democrat, and his wife, Mick, an undecided Republican, to show he intends to battle for swing voters.
To illustrate his faith to voters guided by religion, the senator went to Mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Chillicothe and took communion, a rite at least one bishop has said he would deny to Kerry because of his support for abortion rights.
In Buchanan, a tiny Pike County village, Kerry stopped at the Village Grocery and asked owners Paul and Debra McKnight, "Can I get me a hunting license here?"
He plunked down $140 in cash for a nonresident Ohio hunting license so he can go duck hunting in the Mahoning Valley when he returns to the state Thursday. At the Wakefield rally, Kerry was given a 12-gauge shotgun and told the crowd he would "balance the rights and responsibilities" of gun owners.
The four-county route and events were calculated to tamp down Bush’s strength in conservative areas where many voters, political observers say, are motivated by "the three Gs" — God, guns and gays.
While Democrat Al Gore rolled up a comfortable margin in Ohio’s big six urban counties in 2000, Bush swamped him almost everywhere else, winning 72 of the 88 counties and capturing 55 percent of the vote in Ohio’s 82 small- to medium-size counties.
"We’re definitely going through areas where we feel we can outperform the Gore numbers of four years ago," said Mike McCurry, a senior campaign adviser, contending that "the breadth and scope of our ground operation" will make Kerry more competitive in Ohio’s GOP areas.
"We have to try to keep (Bush’s) numbers down," he said.
McCurry said Ohio’s dismal economy, including 237,400 jobs lost in the past four years, makes rural Ohio a "target of opportunity" for Kerry.
In an interview with Ohio reporters aboard his campaign bus, Kerry sought to align himself with moderate-to-conservative voters, refuting Bush’s incessant claims that he is an outof-touch liberal.
"I am not a liberal," Kerry said. "I’m a moderate, thoughtful, practical person who looks for solutions."
Madden, Bush’s campaign spokesman, referred to a 1991 St. Louis Post-Dispatch story in which Kerry said, "I am a liberal and proud of it."
In a yard across the street from Xenia High School, Kerry saw a huge sign with the message: "Vote the Bible! Take a stand for morality."
In the interview, Kerry said Bush "talks about values, but he doesn’t live values in his public policy." There is no morality in cutting 500,000 children from after-school programs and 390,000 from Medicaid health coverage "so wealthy people get a tax cut," Kerry said.
In Xenia, Kerry hammered Bush for sugar-coating Ohio’s flagging economy, holding up the Oct. 12 front page of The (Findlay) Courier which quoted Treasury Secretary John W. Snow saying claims of job losses during Bush’s tenure were "myths."
Pointing to Michael F. Adams, recently laid off after 10 years at General Motors’ Delphi plant in Vandalia, Kerry said, "Mr. President, the people who lost jobs on your watch are not myths. They are our neighbors. They are middle-class Americans."
Kerry burnished his hunting credentials during stops in Pike County, which along with eight of the 13 other counties in Appalachia-dominated southeastern Ohio, supported Bush in 2000. Bush’s win in the region was attributed, in part, to a strong effort by the National Rifle Association to portray Gore as antigun. The NRA has targeted $20 million through Election Day in Ohio and other battleground states to do the same to Kerry.
Kerry said he is determined not to let that happen: "I believe in the Second Amendment, and I’m not going to take a back seat to anybody in protecting that right."
jhallett@dispatch.com
Kerry's attempt to speak what he thinks is the local dialect.
So what's the story folks. Are we in trouble? Is Kerry "surging in the polls" or is this just the usual weekend Kerry surge?
He's a man who is afraid someone will find out who he is.
Its just a viagra surge. Johns getting horny.
Why do you think he wanted such a big gun?
Oh geez, that's a funny description of a socialist who committed treasonous acts.
WE know who he is and WHAT he is for sure!
Since you 'got you' a hunting license, let's see you put out a commercial with you shooting and then gutting/cleaning/butchering whatever it is you shot.
There is nothing he can do that isn't going to cost him some part of his constituency.
If sKerry is NOT a LIBERAL,
I AM qualified to be a Mother Superior...... NOT!!!
A big gun won't help Kerry because you still need the balls to pull the trigger.
He's again after that 16 point buck.....
Liberals always wear camouflage when they campaign. They have such "courage of their convictions," they don't want anyone to know they're liberal.
Another new role in the movie that is John Kerry's life.
These people should be inulted at being used in this charade.
After shaking flyover country people's paws, Kerry used Purel liberally.
Kerry hankers to be Bob.
"I am not a liberal" = "I am not a crook."
He plunked down $140 in cash for a nonresident Ohio hunting license so he can go duck hunting in the Mahoning Valley when he returns to the state Thurs...
$125 for Ohio non-resident hunting license + $15 Ohio wetlands stamp = $140. Additional req'ment is the $15 federal migratory bird stamp available at the PO.
Now THAT'S funny!
Not a liberal? I have lost track of the times I have seen Kerry sucking up to that hate-monger Ted Kennedy. Judge 'em -- if you must -- by the company they keep.
"Speaking last night to 8,000 people on 89-year-old Maggie West’s farm"
8,000, yeah, sure.
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