Kerry on Cross Country Tour; Bush
Denounces Rival
By Michael Finnegan, Edwin Chen and James Rainey, Times Staff
Writers
July 30, 2004
latimes.com
The presidential campaign kicked into high gear today,
with Democratic candidate Sen. John F. Kerry setting
off on a cross-country tour in the wake of his party's
convention and President George Bush denouncing his
rival for having "very few signature achievements'" to
show after 19 years in the Senate.
One day after accepting the Democratic presidential
nomination, Sen. John F. Kerry headed out this morning
from Boston on a 21-state cross-country tour with a rally
where he pledged that "help is on the way" for average
Americans.
Snaking across New York's Hudson Valley, the 10-bus
caravan stopped for lunch at a Wendy's in Newburgh,
N.Y. on its way to a campaign stop in Scranton, Penn.
Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards, and his wife,
Elizabeth, celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary at
the fast-food restaurant, a tradition they have held
throughout their marriage.
Kerry conducted a press interview inside the restaurant,
then stopped to greet about two hundred well-wishers
waiting behind police lines outside.
Meanwhile, in Springfield, Mo., President Bush launched
his own "heart and soul of America" tour today by asking
voters to award him a second term, saying that he has
"accomplished a great deal" during his four-year term in
the White House. In contrast, he said, his opponent had
accomplished few major achievements during his 19
years in the Senate.
"Results matter," Bush told 8,000 supporters in a college
baseball stadium. "We are turning a corner and we're not
turning back."
Re-emerging on the campaign trail after a week in
seclusion at his Texas ranch, the president wasted no
time touting his accomplishments: "Give me four more
years, and America will continue to march toward peace
and better prosperity."
White House aides said that while the president watched some of the Democratic
convention, which ended Thursday night, he did not stay up to view Kerry's
acceptance speech.
Referring to the Boston gathering, Bush noted that he had heard "a lot of clever
speeches and some big promises," but added that even the best of intentions "do not
always transfer into results."
On Iraq, the president offered a new variation for his justification for the Iraq War.
Citing the recent report of the independent 9/11 commission, which blamed the
failures to prevent the 2001 attacks partly on a "failure of imagination," the
president said that he indeed had imagined the threat posed by Saddam Hussein
when he decided to launch the preemptive war.
Later today, the president was to campaign in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Cleveland,
Ohio. Saturday, he plans to campaign by bus through eastern Ohio and western
Pennsylvania. All three states are considered key swing states in the Nov. 2
election.
The Democratic candidates, alone and together, will visit 21 states over 15 days:
Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin, a
campaign spokeswoman said.
At the Boston rally earlier today, Kerry pledged support for working families
struggling to make ends meet. He said many working Americans were "playing by
the rules" while "a whole group of people are writing the rules for themselves and
leaving the rest of America out."
"We're going to change that around," Kerry shouted to the cheering crowd. "Help is
on the way for the average person in this country."
Kerry touted his plans to create jobs, cut the cost of health care and reduce
American dependence on Middle East Oil. He also cast himself as a champion of
hope and optimism.
Extending his four-day effort at the Democratic National Convention to appeal to a
narrow but crucial target of swing voters, Kerry sought to reach beyond his party's
base.
"We need to go out of here today determined that this is not about politics," he
shouted. "It's not about Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative. It's about
mainstream values that define our nation. It's about American values."
Bostonians, however, were ready to bid the Democrats farewell and reclaim their
city.
"It's like the bad house guest that stayed too long," one Boston police officer,
finishing his final 14-hour shift of convention week. We haven't had a life for a
week. We want it back."
Finnegan and Rainey reported from New York and Boston, Chen from
Springfield, Mo. Times Staff Writers Jesus Sanchez and Amelia Neufeld
handled rewrite in Los Angeles |
