Kerry courts women voters; Bush sharpens jabs

CANTON, Ohio -- On a day when both candidates raced across the narrowing swing-state map, President Bush said yesterday that Senator John F. Kerry's policies would put American families at risk, and Kerry reached out to working women by touting his health care, education, and job-creation plans.

Both candidates are entering the campaign's final 10 days by outlining stark choices for voters. Facing a still-volatile electorate -- spread across a small swath of the nation -- both are playing the delicate game of warning voters against their opponents' policies while seeking to maintain optimistic tones.

Bush, campaigning in the three largest electoral battlegrounds, unveiled a retooled stump speech designed to portray Kerry as weak on terrorism out of the mainstream on issues such as taxes and family values.

He described ''clear choices" that voters face on national security, the economy, quality of life, retirement, and values, and said his plans are clearly preferable on each front. Bush hammered Kerry on taxes in particular, saying that the Massachusetts Democrat ''must really enjoy" raising taxes, based on his record.

''The security and prosperity of our country, the health and education of our citizens, the retirement of our seniors, and the direction of our culture are all at stake," Bush said in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where he attended a rally before heading to Ohio and Florida yesterday. ''My opponent has spent a lot of this campaign talking about the day that's gone. I see the day that's coming."

Kerry used a campaign appearance in Milwaukee to focus on women's issues in an attempt to attract a constituency that is key to his presidential hopes. He accused Bush of ignoring a wage gap faced by women and blamed him for not addressing women's concerns on health care and education.

Two million women have lost health insurance during the Bush administration, Kerry said, and schools have gone without $29 billion in federal funding they expected when the president signed the No Child Left Behind education reform law.

''The simple fact is, this president is out of touch, and he's out of ideas, and we need a president who can change that," Kerry told an audience comprised mostly of women at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. ''I'll tell you what: This president can spin until he's dizzy. But at the end of the day, who does he think American women are going to believe? Him, or their own eyes?"

Kerry aides said the speech will be one in a series aimed at convincing undecided voters that he has a vision for the country, not merely that he is running to oust Bush. This week alone he has spoken about terrorism and national security, Social Security, and health care.

''It is no exaggeration to say to you that the women of America can write the future of America if they go to the polls and make their voices heard," said Kerry, who was joined by his sister and one of his daughters and was introduced by Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy. ''Imagine if roughly 38 million women who didn't vote in the year 2000 came together and said, 'We need a president who's on our side.' "

Bush, meanwhile, continued his attack on Kerry's approach to fighting terror. He seized on a recent comment by Richard Holbooke, a former United Nations ambassador and Kerry adviser, who said the war on terrorism is best understood as a ''metaphor" instead of war in a literal sense.

''I've got news: Anyone who thinks we are fighting a metaphor does not understand the enemy we face and has no idea how to win the war and keep America secure," Bush said in Wilkes-Barre.

The president's campaign message was reinforced by a new advertisement that aides said would get heavy play this week in 14 swing states. The ad shows a pack of wolves moving through a thick forest and says a Kerry presidency would make the nation vulnerable to terrorists because ''weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm."

Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, said at a campaign event in Florida that the administration is continuing to mislead the American people about the situation in Iraq and Kerry's record on fighting terror.

''They have stooped so low now that they are using a pack of wolves running around a forest trying to scare you and trying to scare the American people," Edwards said.

With polls showing more Americans believe Bush would better protect the nation against a terrorist attack, Kerry opened a speech otherwise focused on economic, educational, and gender issues with an unusually descriptive declaration about his commitment to rooting out terrorists and keeping the country safe.

''Just as I fought for my country as a young man, and just as I placed a passion on the line for my country and hunted down to kill the enemy then, I guarantee you, I will leave no stone unturned to protect this country I love," he said.

After his appearance in Wisconsin, Kerry flew to Reno for a rally and then to Pueblo, Colo., in advance of another rally this morning. Bush has four stops scheduled in Florida today.

Bush visited Pennsylvania and Ohio yesterday amid signs that his campaign is struggling in efforts to take those two key states. A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Kerry up 51 percent to 46 percent among likely voters in Pennsylvania, which Bush lost four years ago. And the president's visit to Ohio yesterday was his first in nearly three weeks, as polls have shown his support slipping in a state he carried in 2000.

Karl Rove, a senior White House adviser, said he is unconcerned about the shifts in polls. He said the campaign will make a late and intensive push for Ohio -- backed by a massive volunteer organization -- and said he expects many people who now support Kerry to move away from him in the final days.

''There are a large number of people who are [saying they are] voting for him who don't support him," Rove said. ''We feel good about our position. We've been here [in Ohio] a lot. We're going to be here a lot between now and the election."

Rick Klein reported from Ohio; Glen Johnson reported from Wisconsin. Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com. Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.