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LAWRENCE, Kan. — Supporters stood in the dark as the John Kerry-John Edwards (search) campaign train sped through town in the wee hours of Saturday. They got their chance to spend time with half the ticket Sunday when Edwards and his family paid a makeup call in a rare Democratic foray into a traditionally Republican stronghold.

7 p.m. CDT Thursday - cw-3At the capitol building in Jefferson City, Mo., the state where Mark Twain lived, Sen. John F. Kerry jokes that Huck Finn never wanted to grow up - just like some guys his daughters have dated. He laughs and hugs daughter Alex. 10:30 p.m. - The whistlestop tour halts in Sedalia, Mo., where some Bush fans heckle. Kerry tells his supporters to let them chant because they have only three more months to do so. Sen. John Edwards says his children are aboard and to please show some good Missouri manners. Teresa Heinz Kerry tells...

Edwards defends states' rights in GOP stronghold By JO MANNIES St. Louis Post-Dispatch By Jo Mannies St. Louis Post-Dispatch (KRT) - CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Sen. John Edwards emphasized his support for states' rights Thursday, saying the Democratic presidential ticket had no objection to Missouri's overwhelming vote this week in favor of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. "We're both opposed to gay marriage and believe that states should be allowed to decide this question," Edwards said in an interview Thursday, referring to himself and presidential nominee John Kerry. Edwards and Kerry oppose a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage,...

Minnesota and Iowa were the favored states as President Bush continues to campaign for re-election. He announced three important new conservation initiatives that will help protect wildlife, water, and precious land resources: Supporting America's Farmers and Conserving America's Land.Secretary Rumsfeld today on the radio. Enjoy your daily Dose of W @ Sanity Island!

Wheeling, W.Va. --- In the nation's coalfield's Saturday afternoon, Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry touted his support for a $2-billion dollar clean-coal technology plan as a part of the nation's energy independence from Middle East oil while at the same time noting his support for hunter gun owner rights to an estimated 15,000-plus audience. Kerry said he would be a president who "believes in science," and will pour $2 billion directly into developing clean coal technology as a part of his strategy for energy independence. "I want a nation that depends on its own ingenuity, not the Saudi royal...

Thousand of supporters lined the streets, waving flags and holding up signs as President Bush made a campaign side trip through Dover and New Philadelphia. A much smaller number of protesters also staked out the route Saturday. During the ride through Dover, Bush stopped at the Eiler Candy Shop to trade banter with employees, sign autographs and buy candy. “How is everybody?” he asked. “Anybody hungry?” After scrutinizing the candy display, the president purchased chocolate-covered caramels.

(CBS MarketWatch) Rural America truly was "Bush country" in the 2000 presidential election, but Democrats say a still-lackluster economy and other issues will help them close the gap in 2004. But the Bush campaign hasn't been sitting on its hands. Mr. Bush recently campaigned in two areas that rarely see presidential visits: Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northern Minnesota. Michigan's Upper Peninsula is solidly Republican; Minnesota's Iron Range traditionally votes Democratic, but those voters also tend to be conservative on social issues. Moreover, the Bush campaign, in response to a Kerry bus tour through key Midwestern states earlier this month, issued...

In today’s Reads, Kerry doesn’t know rural America, and it shows in his policies. Plus, why people on either side of the marriage debate can’t trust Kerry to take a consistent position. Morning Reads: Kerry Ignores Small Town America When it comes to the issues that matter to small town and rural America, John Kerry is trying hard... to lose the training wheels. A number of recent stumbles demonstrate that Kerry's recent discovery of rural America is far from complete -- and while the Senator from Massachusetts may dismiss rural communities as flyover country as he jets from campaign stop...

Vice President Cheney is demonized by Democrats but a god to the GOP faithful. And while electrifying is hardly a word one might associate with the veep, charging up core crowds crucial to President Bush's reelection is just what he's doing. The Daily News' Washington Bureau Chief Thomas M. DeFrank has spent recent weeks on the road with Cheney to find out just why some Republicans say he's the party's "secret weapon." MINNEAPOLIS - Dick Cheney has never lost an election when his name was on the ballot, and he doesn't intend to lose this one, either - his last...

Bush, Kerry focus on values in scramble for voters By RON FOURNIER The Associated Press 7/13/2004, 5:42 p.m. ET SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) — President Bush and John Kerry are trying to define and dominate the debate on gay marriage, abortion, gun rights and other values in a more virtuous-than-thou scramble for voters like blue-collar Democrat Carolyn Brooks. The 61-year-old clerk opposes abortion, even to save a woman's life, and gay marriage, even if it requires amending the Constitution. But there's a value she places above all others: Honesty. "And Bush, with his war on Iraq, has failed on that note,"...

SAGINAW, Mich. - President Bush (news - web sites) and John Kerry (news - web sites) are trying to define and dominate the debate on gay marriage, abortion, gun rights and other values in a more virtuous-than-thou scramble for voters like blue-collar Democrat Carolyn Brooks. The 61-year-old clerk opposes abortion, even to save a woman's life, and gay marriage, even if it requires amending the Constitution. But there's a value she places above all others: Honesty. "And Bush, with his war on Iraq (news - web sites), has failed on that note," Brooks said. Along with the economy and the...

MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) — President Bush was greeted Tuesday by cheers of "four more years" as he spoke to a crowd of thousands that packed Northern Michigan University's Superior Dome for a campaign rallyBush said he and Vice President Dick Cheney represent the strong, optimistic leadership that the nation needs. And he encouraged those gathered in the Upper Peninsula community to encourage others to register to vote. "I'm here to ask for your vote," Bush said. "I'm here to ask for your help."Bush's visit — the first to Marquette by a sitting president since William Howard Taft in 1911 —...

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) is courting rural voters in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, closely shadowing rival John Kerry (news - web sites)'s recent Midwestern tour and trying to outflank the Democrat on his claim that he is the champion of "conservative values." Bush refers to Kerry as "the senator from Massachusetts" — a dig meant to reinforce Bush's assertion that Kerry is out of touch with Middle America. Bush carries that message on Tuesday to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a sparsely populated region no sitting president has visited in more than 90 years. Bush won the Upper...

Associated Press WASHINGTON - Four years ago, George W. Bush carried rural voters by 22 percentage points over Al Gore, in an election polarized between "red" rural America and "blue" cities. This year, John Kerry hopes to mix the colors up a little. Kerry, a Massachusetts senator and the presumptive Democratic nominee, has been trying to portray himself as culturally in tune with rural Americans in an effort to pick up swing voters in the battleground states of the Midwest. Rep. Dick Gephardt, a former presidential candidate, said Kerry has a good opportunity. "John has been saying that he's for...

INDEPENDENCE, Wis. (Reuters) - John Kerry, veteran senator from Massachusetts, New England blue blood and Democratic White House hopeful, learned to swear from a farmer, loved to drive a tractor and once had a passion for plowing.· 'Kid from the East' Kerry Feels Farmers' Pain. "When I was a kid, this kid from the East, I had an aunt and uncle who owned a dairy farm," Kerry told a town hall meeting on Saturday in Independence, midway through a 546-mile July 4 weekend road trip across America's heartland to win over rural voters. The son of a diplomat who was...

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"/> July 2, 2004 Bush and Kerry Vie for Support of Rural VotersBy ROBIN TONER LOQUET, Minn., July 1 — Four years ago, George W. Bush won some of his biggest and most decisive margins among rural and small-town voters. But Democrats say economic troubles and the war in Iraq have taken a disproportionate toll on rural communities. They vow that the struggle for these voters will be — must be — far more competitive this time around. So Senator John Kerry will come on Friday to Cloquet, not far from Duluth, and kick...

CLOQUET, Minn. -- Reaching out to rural voters who overwhelmingly backed George W. Bush four years ago, John Kerry kicked off a holiday weekend bus tour through three Midwestern states Friday by asking residents here to help "bring an end to the Bush administration and march forward." Kerry lashed out at Republicans who have accused him of offering unfairly grim assessments of the economy, seizing on Friday's announcement from the Labor Department that the economy had added 112,000 jobs in June, far fewer than economists had predicted. "They say this is the best we can do," Kerry said, repeating a...

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites), hoping to narrow President Bush's strong advantage in rural America, is highlighting agriculture policies he says will help family farmers and ranchers. Kerry is in the middle of a three-day, 546-mile Fourth of July weekend bus tour through rural Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, just over three weeks before he accepts his party's nomination at the Democratic National Convention. He planned to meet Saturday with family farmers and ranchers in nearby Independence, Wis., before heading to Dubuque, Iowa, to watch fireworks along the Mississippi River. On Friday, Kerry...

WASHINGTON, DC - Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) issued the following statement regarding why John Kerry is wrong for Minnesota: "The more than 19,000 jobs created in Minnesota during April and May alone means that President Bush's pro-growth policies are working. America's economy is strong and growing stronger, and the 1.5 million new jobs created over the past ten months show just how detached John Kerry's pessimistic rhetoric is from reality. "While John Kerry wants to severely restrict snowmobile use in state and national parks, Minnesotans understand the importance of a balanced approach that protects our valuable natural resources while allowing...

CLOQUET, Minn. - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) on Friday talked up his economic and energy policies as he sought to chip away at President Bush (news - web sites)'s support among rural voters. With just over three weeks before he accepts his party's nomination, Kerry embarked on a three-day bus tour through small Midwestern towns while his campaign bought $14 million of airtime for television ads in 18 battleground states and cable television. Kerry told several hundred supporters at an outdoor rally outside of Duluth that small towns such as Cloquet — population 11,200 —...