Kerry's news conference came on his first trip to Florida in a month. He was kept out of the state that decided the 2000 election by a succession of hurricanes that have ripped up property across the state.
After his news conference, Kerry hosted a town hall meeting on health care and later met up with running mate John Edwards for the rally.
On health care, Kerry said Bush has no plan to expand coverage. He responded to criticism from the president that his own plan would mean a government takeover of the health care system. "It is not a government plan," he said. "It allows every American to choose their doctor, every American to choose their plan. In fact, it provides a broader choice for health care than you have today. And there's no new bureaucracy; it cleans up bureaucracy and gets rid of waste."
Edwards began his day in Ohio with his sharpest criticism yet of Bush's economic policies, calling them "the most radical and dangerous economic agenda to hit our shores since socialism a century ago."
"Just like socialism, it corrupts the very nature of our democracy and our free enterprise tradition," Edwards told a group of business leaders in Cleveland. "It is not a plan to grow the American economy. It is a plan to corrupt the American economy and to shrink the winner's circle."
Edwards said a Kerry administration would roll back tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, arguing that Bush has a vision that "honors wealth and privilege rather than work and responsibility."
Edwards's speech reflected a desire by the campaign to attack Bush on two fronts simultaneously, and not to let Kerry's focus on Iraq overshadow economic issues, Edwards aides said.
Snyder is traveling with Edwards.
