Kerry, Republicans sharpen campaign barbs
TOLEDO, Ohio -- Presidential candidate John F. Kerry fought a two-front political war in Ohio yesterday, moving to neutralize free trade as an issue in Tuesday's Democratic contests while also facing a new attack by a Republican leader who questioned his credibility and declared open season on everything from the senator's past criticism of US soldiers in Vietnam to his voting record.
The partisan conflict between the campaigns of Kerry and President Bush -- coming eight months from Election Day and before a Democratic nominee has been chosen -- intensified yesterday with dueling conference calls and e-mails from the two camps.
Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, and two GOP congressmen labeled Kerry a flip-flopper on issues ranging from taxes to foreign policy and suggested that his word could not be trusted.
"There were any number of things where Senator Kerry has gone back and forth on issues and raised a credibility question," said Gillespie, who organized a news conference in Washington to assail Kerry's voting record.
Gillespie, who has been fielding questions for weeks about Bush's Vietnam-era service in the National Guard, focused on 1971 congressional testimony in which Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, said that American soldiers had raped and tortured Vietnamese people and committed other atrocities. Asked whether Republicans would talk about this testimony -- which troubles some veterans Kerry is courting -- Gillespie said, "Well, he has given public testimony on atrocities, obviously."
Kerry left it to campaign surrogates to defend his record, particularly his opposition to some missile systems and defense programs that Republicans have cited in characterizing Kerry as weak on national security.
"Give me a commander in chief who's going to have some skepticism about certain programs if they're not working," Representative Norm Dicks, Democrat of Washington, said during a conference call with reporters shortly after Gillespie's news conference.
The Democratic front-runner spent yesterday in Ohio, trying to win over voters but also contain their anger over the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Kerry supported in the Senate and many workers here blame for the loss of some 260,000 jobs since 2000.
In a speech at the University of Toledo, Kerry announced that he would require companies to give three months' notice to employees before moving their jobs overseas, while also making forceful but less specific pledges to "fight for fairness" for American workers.
"Under this administration, America's middle class has been abandoned, its dreams denied, its Main Street interests ignored, and its mainstream values scorned by a White House that puts privilege first, and we must change that," Kerry said.
Kerry's most serious rival for the nomination, John Edwards, has energized some voters here and in other Super Tuesday states, such as New York and Georgia, with his denunciations of NAFTA. In retaliation, the Kerry campaign is airing a TV ad in Ohio and upstate New York that touts his plans to "end tax breaks that reward companies for shipping jobs overseas" and says he will offer "new incentives to create and keep good jobs here." Kerry advisers also disclosed yesterday that the candidate planned a last-minute visit back to Ohio Monday to shore up his support before the next day's voting, while also visiting Buffalo, Baltimore, and Georgia, where Edwards is also making a stand.
Kerry criticized remarks made by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan yesterday that Congress should cut Social Security benefits rather than increase taxes in order to lower the budget deficit.
"No matter what was said in Washington just this morning, the wrong way to cut the deficit is to cut Social Security benefits," Kerry said, pounding a finger on his lectern and generating strong applause from the 1,000 audience members. "If I'm president, we're simply not going to do it, and if I'm the Democratic nominee -- and I welcome this debate -- this is a debate that I will win."
Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com. 
