Bush used a day-long bus and plane tour of Florida to punch back at Kerry's assertion that the president may have an undisclosed plan to resurrect a military draft. "No matter what my opponent tells people to try and scare 'em, we will have an all-volunteer Army," Bush shouted at an outdoor rally in Daytona Beach. "The only person talking about a draft is my opponent. . . . The best way to avoid a draft is to vote for me."
However, during one appearance, he blew his line. At first, he said: "We will not have an all-volunteer Army." The crowd responded with puzzlement, prompting Bush to say, "Let me restate that: We will not have a draft."
A Democratic group backing Kerry announced a new television ad in swing states raising a warning on a possible draft.
Bush continued his aggressive appeal to his most conservative supporters, using the word "liberal" four times at a rally outside Fort Lauderdale, where his star-spangled campaign bus, with red and blue lights flashing, pulled into a darkened arena.
A Washington Post poll shows the candidates even in Florida, where early voting will begin on Monday. Bush made three stops there Saturday, and planned four more stops on Monday and Tuesday in hopes of winning the state by more than his 537-vote margin in 2000. The president was accompanied at each stop by first lady Laura Bush and by his younger brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who said he was "proud of my commander in chief, and my brother."
Edwards was in suburban Miami Saturday, kicking off the Democratic ticket's 12-city, five-day tour of the state. At a rally in Miami Gardens, he stepped up his rhetoric, saying that Republicans will be "up to their old tricks" and potentially engage in voter fraud to win the state's 27 electoral votes.
"We know what's coming. Republicans are already up to it," Edwards said to the largely black crowd, prompting a wave of boos. Edwards was responding to news reports here that suggested that Jeb Bush ignored advice to abandon a flawed election voter list before it went out to county election offices, even after he was warned by state officials that some voters -- mostly black -- could be disenfranchised
Allen and staff writer Chris L. Jenkins reported from Florida.
