Kerry uses new census data to attack Bush

ANOKA, Minn. -- Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry yesterday seized upon new US Census figures showing a drop in incomes and increases in health care costs and the number of people living in poverty to argue that the country is heading in the wrong direction under President Bush.

Kicking off a health care forum with undecided voters at a technical college in this Minneapolis suburb, Kerry quipped, "We scheduled this on a Thursday so we wouldn't interfere with your weekend trip to Canada to buy prescription drugs, folks."

He went on to highlight his proposals to provide near-universal health care coverage, create jobs, and lower college tuition costs as means of reversing the trends highlighted by the Census numbers. They included a $1,500 drop in the average American's income, a 1.4 million increase in the number of Americans living without health insurance, and a 1.3 million increase in the number of Americans living in poverty.

"The census figures are facts, they're not political diatribe," Kerry said. "They don't have a political label on them. They're facts, statistics, and they tell a story when you add them all up."

With a new poll by the Los Angeles Times indicating voters having moved toward Bush in the past few weeks -- and Kerry nicked up by attacks on his Vietnam War record and questions among voters about his truthfulness -- the Massachusetts senator also delivered his most pointed rebuttal to date against Republican accusations that he is a "flip-flopper" or "waffler." The poll put Bush at 49 percent and Kerry at 46 percent, within the sample's margin of error, but a shift from 48 percent to 46 percent in favor of Kerry during a similar survey last month.

When a man in the audience asked him about the labels, Kerry said: "It's the same thing they said about Bill Clinton; it's standard Republican playbook. It's the same thing they said about Al Gore. It's the same thing they said about John McCain down in South Carolina. They just say it, and if you spend enough money and say it, people like you are going to ask the question."

He then added: "Let me ask you something: Is opposing the Homeland Security Department and then suddenly embracing it when the newspapers write something, is that 'flip-flopping' or doing something? Is opposing [the] 9/11 [Commission] and then suddenly turning around and supporting it? Is telling us [national security adviser] Condoleezza Rice is not going to testify, then she does testify, is that a 'flip-flop?' Is telling you you're going to fund No Child Left Behind and then stripping it of $27 billion, is that a 'flip-flop?' I mean, you tell me, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get real here."

For a third consecutive day, Kerry also subtly continued the political debate stemming from criticism of his military record by some fellow veterans who have questioned whether he deserved his combat decorations, and who have criticized his subsequent statements while leading the antiwar movement.

Kerry renewed a call for regular debates with Bush. Previously, Kerry suggested monthly meetings on a range of topics, but with the calendar now at fewer than 70 days until Election Day, Kerry suggested weekly debates on different topics such as health care and education. "America deserves a discussion like we're having here today, which I'm prepared to have with this president every single week from now until the election," he said. The Bush campaign rejected Kerry's debate challenge as well as his criticism stemming from the census figures.

"There will be a time for debates after the convention, and during the next few weeks, John Kerry should take the time to finish the debates with himself," said Bush-Cheney spokesman Steve Schmidt.

On the subject of the census figures, the Bush campaign released a statement from Senator Judd Gregg, the New Hampshire Republican who serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, in which he noted that the data cover only 2003 and argued that the figures do not incorporate the full effect of all the tax cuts enacted under the president. He said the numbers also do not fully account for rebounds in some jobs reports and in the manufacturing sector.

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