Bush targets Kerry in Ohio

WEST CHESTER, Ohio -- President Bush, previewing a theme he is likely to use throughout his debate Thursday against Democrat John F. Kerry, joked to an audience in this battleground state yesterday that ''it's been a little tough to prepare for the debates because he keeps changing his positions -- especially on the war."

In speeches in two communities in southwestern Ohio, Bush cast himself as a clear-eyed leader who stands by his decisions, telling an audience at a livestock hall in Springfield, ''You cannot expect to lead this world if you take both sides of every issue."

Later, speaking here near Cincinnati to a crowd estimated by the Secret Service at over 40,000 -- the largest for the president this campaign -- Bush said: ''If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This is not going to happen on my watch."

He triggered chants of ''flip-flop" from the crowd as he said of Kerry: ''He voted for the use of force, but against funding the troops. He said that we're not spending enough money to reconstruct Iraq, yet now says we're spending too much. He said it was the right decision to go into Iraq, yet now he calls it the wrong war."

Pausing for a beat, Bush added: ''I think he can spend 90 minutes debating himself."

The theme of Kerry as a flip-flopper and an indecisive leader was reinforced by top aides traveling with Bush after a weekend of preparations at his Texas ranch. They included two mock debates against Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, a fellow Republican who posed as Kerry.

Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director, told reporters aboard a bus in Bush's caravan, ''Senator Kerry keeps wanting to push 'Start Over,' 'No, here's my position.' " He added, ''The question mark that's left hanging is, is this the final answer from John Kerry?"

In a brief interview, White House political adviser Karl Rove said the campaign expects Kerry to come out ''flailing" at the president.

In a sign of the campaigns' efforts to manage expectations, Rove said Kerry did a good job last week of positioning himself by accusing Bush of misleading the country both about the reasons for the Iraq war and the postwar conditions, amid a persistent insurgency and a week in which three foreigners were beheaded.

Ohio has lost nearly 240,000 jobs since Bush took office in January 2001 and the state's unemployment rate rose from 6 percent to 6.3 percent in August, a focus for Kerry's attacks on Bush.

Bush won the state in 2000 by a narrow 3.6 percent margin over Democrat Al Gore. Kerry yesterday said Bush was avoiding the issue of job losses in Ohio.

''You're going to hear all this talk: 'Oh we've turned a corner, we're doing better,' blah, blah, you know, blah and blah and blah," Kerry said at a town hall meeting in Spring Green, Wis., before Bush spoke. ''But the fact is, he inherited an economy with a $5.6 trillion surplus. He inherited an economy with record employment. He inherited an economy stronger than any economy in the modern history of our country. And he has, because he chose, he insisted on, a great big tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, we went racing into deficit, and now we have deficits as far as the eye can see."

In his speech, Bush conceded the state's economic problems, telling both audiences, as he did in Springfield, ''I understand you've been hit hard in Ohio." He went on to cite his work creating ''opportunity zones," but he attributed the country's overall economic problems to a recession he inherited, corporate scandals that emerged as he took office, and the financial impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and recovery. He said his tax cuts were part of the nation's economic recovery plan.

Bush also lashed out at Kerry for accusing him and interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi of Iraq of glossing over the problems in the country during Allawi's visit to the United Nations and Washington last week.

''He was wrong to question his credibility," Bush said. ''America must stand with these people as they make the hard choices for freedom."

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.