Bush backs off in Pa.
May be conceding state as race tightens in West
nydailynews.com
BY MAGGIE HABERMAN in Santa Fe, N.M.
and KENNETH R. BAZINET and HELEN KENNEDY in Tempe, Ariz.
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
President Bush appears to be conceding some ground in the hard-fought battleground of Pennsylvania, as the 2004 race, which has been fought in only a small number of states, narrows even further.
Bush has visited the Keystone State 39 times - more than any other state - but a White House source said he does not plan to return soon and Pennsylvania was not on a list of the President's top 10 advertising targets last month.
Campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel called talk of Bush's pulling out of Pennsylvania "a rumor" and stressed that travel planning is day-to-day.
"The President has visited the state of Pennsylvania over 30 times and we have tens of thousands of volunteers," Stanzel said. "Our campaign has a real opportunity to be victorious there on Nov. 2."
Bush can narrowly afford to lose Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes, but Sen. John Kerry almost certainly cannot.
Kerry's staff is pleased with how he is doing in Pennsylvania, but aides expect their candidate will return there to campaign. They also said the campaign will spend heavily for ads in the state. But Kerry will devote more time to Florida, Ohio and Nevada.
A new Quinnipiac poll of Pennsylvania shows Kerry has only a 2-point lead, but the Keystone Poll found Kerry racking up a 7-point advantage in the state after the first debate.
University of Wisconsin political science professor Ken Goldstein, who studies campaign ads, said he is watching to see where the candidates spend their money in the last three weeks of the race.
"More than snap polls and punditry, those decisions will tell us who won the debates and what effect they had on each candidate's chances of victory," Goldstein said.
As the terrain shifts, the race is moving west.
Colorado, whose nine electoral votes Bush won handily in 2000, is heating up dramatically. Nevada, another red state, is also suddenly knock-down-drag-out despite having a measly five electoral votes.
The Kerry camp is increasingly confident of Michigan - a state won easily by Al Gore in 2000 - but appears to be giving up on Missouri's 11 votes.
"I think some states like Missouri are less central on the battlefield today," said Kerry spokesman Joe Lockhart.
He said the Bush camp is cutting its losses, as well.
"There are some states [the President's campaign is] pulling out of as we speak," Lockhart said, citing Washington, where Bush has cut back severely on advertising.
According to a survey by Goldstein, almost all presidential campaign commercials aired in only 10 states - Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - over the last month.
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