To: PROLIFE who wrote (4132 ) 2/19/2004 12:42:40 AM From: tejek Respond to of 90947 In Polls, Kerry, Edwards Both Lead Bush By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Both John Kerry (news - web sites) and John Edwards (news - web sites) are ahead of President Bush (news - web sites) by double digits when matched against him in hypothetical elections, says a poll released Wednesday. Kerry, the Democratic front-runner and a Massachusetts senator, leads Bush by 55 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, according to the CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll. Edwards, the North Carolina senator who is challenging Kerry, leads Bush by 54 percent to 44 percent. The poll comes at a time that both Kerry and Edwards have been highly visible as they compete for the Democratic presidential nomination. Bush has been defending himself on his National Guard service and his Iraq (news - web sites) policy after an adviser acknowledged he doesn't believe weapons of mass destruction existed. "Certainly, we'd rather be up than down," said Republican National Committee (news - web sites) Chairman Ed Gillespie. "But I understand where we are in this cycle. We have seen $49 million in negative advertising and I suspect that has had an impact." In early February, both Kerry and Edwards were tied with Bush in head-to-head matchups in this poll. A solid majority in the poll — about two-thirds — said Bush has strong moral character and is a strong and decisive leader. Only four in 10 said Bush has a clear plan for solving this country's problems. Just over half, 55 percent, said Bush is honest and trustworthy. Six in 10 said Kerry is honest and trustworthy and is a strong and decisive leader. Only four in 10 said Kerry has a clear plan for solving this country's problems. The poll of 1,006 adults, including 898 registered voters and 568 likely voters, was taken Feb. 16-17 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, larger for subgroups like registered or likely voters. ___ Democrat Kerry said that if he makes it to the White House he would love to have former rival Dick Gephardt (news - web sites) working in his administration. A man listening to Kerry speak Wednesday at a union hall in Dayton, Ohio, asked the candidate if he would have room for the Missouri congressman in his cabinet, possibly as labor secretary. Saying he had to get on the Democratic ticket and win the general election first, Kerry suggested that he's been thinking about working more with Gephardt, who endorsed him shortly after exiting the race last month. "We would be lucky and I would be lucky if we could get Dick Gephardt to be part of the government of this country and go to work for the American people," Kerry said. "He's a class act," he said. "Under any standard anywhere, he's one of the most decent public people I've met and I'd be proud to have him working with me anywhere at any time." ___ A liberal-leaning online group that is running television ads criticizing President Bush says it has raised $10 million for its advertising fund. The total for the MoveOn.org Voter Fund doesn't include the estimated $1.5 million from financiers George Soros and Peter Lewis. The group currently is spending $1.4 million to run an ad in West Virginia, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio and Florida that takes Bush to task for the Iraq war and shows a polygraph machine reacting as Bush is heard saying sentences such as "Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) had an advanced nuclear weapons development program." The group also is running radio ads in Maine, New Mexico, Kentucky, Tennessee and Iowa, urging citizens to call their representatives in Congress to ask that they censure Bush for what the group calls "misleading the nation into war." ___ Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler in Dayton, Ohio, and Liz Sidoti in Washington contributed to this report.