President George W Bush and Democratic senator Mr John Kerry traded attacks on the presidential campaign trail today, with Mr Bush saying his opponent misunderstands the war on terror while Mr Kerry accused the president of favouring the rich and powerful over the middle class.
At separate stops in the crucial battleground state of New Mexico, the rivals focused on each others leadership and judgment credentials ahead of Wednesday's final television debate.
"Just this weekend, we saw new evidence that Senator Kerry fundamentally misunderstands the war on terror," Mr Bush told supporters in Hobbs, New Mexico. He citied New York Times Magazine interview in which the Massachusetts senator said: "we have to get back to the place where we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance."
"Our goal is not to reduce terror to some acceptable level of nuisance," Mr Bush said. "Our goal is to defeat terror by staying on the offensive, destroying terrorist networks and spreading freedom and liberty around the world."
Mr Kerry , at a campaign stop in Santa Fe, told supporters that Mr Bush's "gross mismanagement" of the war in Iraq had led in part to rising petrol prices and said the former Texas oilman warmed "the hearts of his powerful friends" with a $15 billion tax break.
"In the past four years, in nearly every decision he's made, George W Bush has chosen the powerful and well-connected over middle class Americans," mr Kerry said.
"When it comes to developing a real energy policy, George Bush has run out of gas," he added.
The two candidates hit New Mexico two days before their final face-to-face debate in Tempe, Arizona, which will focus on domestic issues and give them a last shot at speaking directly to an audience of millions of likely voters.
With three weeks left before the November 2nd election, Mr Kerry has opened a three-point lead on Mr Bush in the latest Reuters/Zogby poll. Most polls show the two contenders within a few points of each other in a race that could rival the disputed 2000 election for suspense.