Candidates Spar on Iraq, Terrorism War

The president also said that Kerry "spoke with sympathy for a communist dictator in Nicaragua in the 1980s and criticized the democracy movement as terrorism." The Kerry quotation about the Sandinistas on which the Bush campaign based this statement said: "Our foreign policy should represent the democratic values that have made our country great, not subvert those values by funding terrorism to overthrow governments of other countries."

On Iraq, Bush said Kerry has "now flip-flopped his way to a dangerous position: My opponent finally has settled on a strategy, a strategy of retreat. He has talked about artificial timetables to pull our troops out of Iraq." Kerry has said that he would like to reduce troop levels in Iraq "significantly" within six months but that this would depend on the situation there.

Bush said efforts by Kerry to cut intelligence spending in 1994 and 1995 gave him "a record of trying to weaken American intelligence," and he pointed to numerous votes by Kerry against weapons systems. But the Kerry campaign said that Vice President Cheney, as defense secretary, also opposed some of the same weapons programs, and Kerry's proposed intelligence cuts were smaller than those proposed in 1995 by Bush's choice to head the CIA, Porter J. Goss.

Bush's visit to New Jersey, on his way to Florida for an overnight, was somewhat unconventional because Al Gore won the state comfortably in 2000, and a Republican presidential candidate has not won here in 16 years. Although the GOP's hopes to win in New Jersey are slim, Marlton is in the Philadelphia media market, which means Bush's appearance reached electorally important eastern Pennsylvania.

Cheney expressed optimism about the race as he campaigned in West Virginia. Cheney also dismissed Democratic charges that Bush would "privatize" Social Security. "It's an age-old cry," he said. "It's usually a good thing when it happens because it means they are behind."

Like Bush's No. 2, Kerry's vice presidential pick, John Edwards, suggested that Bush's side is the desperate one. Bush, Edwards said, "is making one last stand to con the American people."

In three cities across Florida, Kerry implored voters to take advantage of the state law that allows them to cast a ballot before Nov. 2 . Surveys here show the race to be a dead heat, and Democrats, anticipating voting troubles in part because 1 million new voters have registered, have already filed about 1,000 preemptive lawsuits.

Although preoccupied with Iraq, Kerry continued to try to saddle Bush with the flu-vaccine shortage, accusing him of putting the interest of the drug companies above the needs of consumers by not developing a health plan that allows the importation of cheaper drugs from Canada.

"With senior citizens standing in line for hours and mothers frantic about how to protect their children, the president gave the public his solution -- don't get a flu shot," Kerry said. Bush suggested that healthy Americans skip vaccinations to leave supplies for the young, old or vulnerable.

Romano was traveling with Kerry. Staff writers Michael Laris, with Cheney, and John Wagner, with Edwards, contributed to this report.