US President George W. Bush has condemned Democratic Senator John Kerry for practicing "the politics of fear," while Mr Kerry hammered Mr Bush's leadership on the economy and the war on terror and proclaimed himself "a champion for the middle class."
Two weeks before the November 2nd election, the White House rivals stepped up their increasingly bitter attacks on each other during stops in the three biggest state battlegrounds of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
9/11 relative Ms Kristen Breitweiser
The president and the Massachusetts senator battled over Social Security and the flu vaccine yesterday in a race that polls show is a dead heat nationally and in states like Ohio and Florida crucial to winning the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the White House.
"Instead of articulating a vision or a positive agenda for the future, the senator is relying on a litany of complaints and old-style scare tactics," Mr Bush told a rally in New Port Richey, Florida.
He cited Mr Kerry's contention that Mr Bush was responsible for a shortage of flu vaccine and intended to privatise Social Security and possibly reinstate the military draft once re-elected.
"My opponent will say anything he thinks that will benefit him politically at the time ... We will keep the promise of Social Security for all our seniors. We will not have a draft," Mr Bush said.
"With your help on November 2nd, the people of America will reject the politics of fear, and vote for an agenda of hope and opportunity and security for all Americans," Mr Bush said.
Mr Kerry has cited shortages of the flu vaccine as a sign of Mr Bush's mismanagement, warning "you don't have a prayer of getting a flu shot." But the president went on the offensive in speaking to seniors in Florida.
"I know there are some here who are worried about the flu season," he said. "I want to assure them that our government is doing everything possible to help older Americans and children to get their shots."
Mr Kerry, beginning the day in Pennsylvania before moving on to Ohio, renewed his claim that Bush had put Social Security on "a dangerous road."
"He's asking you for another four years so that he can privatise the program and undo the social contract with our seniors," Mr Kerry said, slamming Mr Bush's record of job losses and growing budget deficits.
"I'm going to be a champion for the middle class, for the working folks, for the people who deserve their chance," Mr Kerry said in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
The latest Reuters/Zogbypoll showed Mr Bush and Mr Kerry in a dead heat two weeks before the election, with other polls also showing them in a statistical tie.
Mr Kerry rebuked Mr Bush for bragging about catching and killing al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and said the president was not capable of leading an economic recovery and the war on terror at the same time.
"I believe we need a president who defends America and fights for the middle class," Mr Kerry said. "But my friends, a president has to be able to do more than one thing at the same time."
Mr Kerry's campaign launched a new television ad featuring Ms Kristen Breitweiser, whose husband Ron was killed in the September 11th, 2001, attacks. She said she fought for the 9/11 Commission even though Mr Bush opposed it and she did not think the United States was safer now.
"I want to look in my daughter's eyes and know that she is safe, and that is why I am voting for John Kerry," she said.
But Mr Bush earned some backup from the former commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, retired Army General Tommy Franks.
He disputed Mr Kerry's frequent charge that the Mr Bush administration let Bin Laden escape Afghanistan in 2001 by leaving the job to Afghan forces when they had him surrounded in the Tora Bora region.
"I was responsible for the operation at Tora Bora, and I can tell you that the senator's understanding of events doesn't square with reality," Gen Franks wrote in a commentary published by the New York Times.
Vice President Dick Cheney told Fox Newsthat Mr Kerry's mention of his daughter Mary, a lesbian, during last week's final presidential debate was "over the top."
"They made a conscious decision that this was something they wanted to do and that it was part of a political strategy," Mr Cheney said. "I think that's what we found offensive."