In Cedar Rapids, Bush returned to the reformer message that worked well for him in 2000.
"The next president must recognize the need for reform and must be able to achieve them," he said. "On issue after issue, from jobs to health care to the need to strengthen Social Security, Senator Kerry's policies fail to recognize the changing realities of today's world and the need for fundamental reforms."
Bush tried to drive home the argument that Kerry favors government intrusion over individual freedom. "I don't believe in big government, and I don't believe in indifferent government," he said. "I'm a compassionate conservative."
On the economy, Bush challenged Kerry over the link between education and jobs. "When I talked about the vital link between education and jobs, the senator didn't seem to get it," he said. "He said I switched away from jobs and talking about education. No, good jobs start with good education."
Advisers said the president plans two major speeches next week to help frame the arguments for the final days of the campaign and to point out what campaign communications director Nicolle Devenish called the "bright lines and big differences" with Kerry. On Monday he is to talk about the war on terrorism, one area where he still enjoys a clear advantage over Kerry. On Thursday, he plans to talk about health care.
The vice presidential candidates, meanwhile, battled over the economy in two states consumed with manufacturing slumps.
Vice President Cheney visited a series of largely white Michigan neighborhoods not far from the hardscrabble, predominantly black city of Benton Harbor in a campaign swing that illustrated the divided nature of this key electoral prize.
Cydni Sanders, from Benton Harbor, queried Cheney about the 40 percent of her city's residents living under the poverty line, and the findings of a recent Rockefeller Foundation report on the country's more than 9 million working-poor families.
Cheney responded that the "best solution" to poverty "is a job." He cited the benefits of the administration's tax cuts, and plans to help small businesses pay for health care and to reduce the amount they spend on liability insurance.
Campaigning in Ohio, Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) mocked Treasury Secretary John W. Snow for saying job losses are a "myth."
"What planet are these guys living on?" Edwards told the standing-room-only crowd of about 1,100 in Mentor. "The rest of us have to live here on planet Earth."
Balz is traveling with Bush. Staff writers Michael Laris, traveling with Cheney, and Chris L. Jenkins, traveling with Edwards, contributed to this report.
