CHILLICOTHE, Ohio, Sept. 10 -- President Bush charged on Friday that Saddam Hussein would still be ruling Iraq if John F. Kerry's view had prevailed, as the Bush campaign continued to press its case that Americans should not trust the Democratic presidential nominee to keep them safe.
Campaigning with a disaffected Democrat, Sen. Zell Miller (Ga.), at his side, Bush took a bus tour from West Virginia to southern Ohio, raising doubts at every stop about Kerry's ability to protect Americans.
"If he had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power and would still be a threat to the security and to the world," Bush said. Kerry, who voted to authorize force in Iraq but now calls it the "wrong war" and has had difficulty clarifying his view, has "more different positions than all his colleagues in the Senate combined," Bush added.
Bush's message was seconded by Miller, the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention. Miller told the crowd in Huntington, W.Va., that the country is in an "hour of danger" and said: "There's but one man I trust to keep my family safe." In an apparent allusion to Kerry, Miller said Bush is "never wavering, never wobbling, never weak in the knees."
The new challenge to Kerry on national security came even as Vice President Cheney softened his warning that the nation would be more vulnerable to a terrorist attack if Kerry became president. Cheney, saying he wished to "clean up" the impression he left on Tuesday, did not retract the statement but said its meaning was misunderstood.
"I did not say if Kerry is elected we will be hit by a terrorist attack," he said in an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer published on Friday. "Whoever is elected president has to anticipate more attacks. My point was, the question before us is: Will we have the most effective policy in place to deal with that threat? George Bush will pursue a more effective policy than John Kerry."
Bush and Miller -- who, judging from crowd reactions here, has become the GOP's favorite Democrat -- echoed that theme at each stop Friday, as they rode aboard a bus painted with the words "A Safer World, A More Hopeful America."
"I wish my party had the same will to win this fight that this good president does," Miller said. Bush, his sleeves rolled up on an open-collar blue dress shirt nearly identical to Miller's, threw his arm around the Georgian after Miller introduced him in West Virginia.
Five times in his speech in West Virginia, Bush spoke of making the country and the world "safer." He told members of the audience to bring their friends to the polls and "remind them, if they want a safer America, a stronger America and a better America, put Dick Cheney and me back in there for four more years."
Even at a two-minute stop at the courthouse in little Ironton, Ohio, Bush told those gathered to give him the key to the city: "We've got plans to make this world a safer place."
There seems to be only upside for Bush in presenting himself as the better candidate in the fight against terrorists. In the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, Bush led Kerry on the issue by 22 percentage points -- his greatest advantage on an issue.
Yet Bush has not left the impression that Americans will be entirely safe under his leadership. In the poll, 73 percent were concerned that the country could face major terrorist attacks, a number that has changed little over the past three years.
"People believe they will be safer under Bush," said Andrew Kohut, who directs polling at the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. "I do not think this translates into the expectation that there will not be another attack."
Friday was the first time Bush made the accusation that Hussein would still be in power if Kerry's view had prevailed, although Cheney has said it several times. Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer did not directly rebut Bush's allegation but said: "Dick Cheney crossed the line earlier this week, so it's no shock that George Bush is following his lead."
