- George Bush will take the stage at the Republican convention
in New York this week to launch a last desperate fight for the White House.
With two months to go, one of the bitterest and tightest elections in American
history is now in its final stages.
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- The President is ready for the battle. 'I am not going
to come in second place,' he told USA Today last week in a rare interview.
But New York is not a welcoming place for Bush and the Republicans.
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- The atmosphere is tense in 'the city that never sleeps'.
Roads are closed and anti-terrorist measures have New York in a vice-like
grip. Many local people have fled to calmer climes.
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- Already several hundred arrests have been made by the
thousands of police swamping the streets. With up to 250,000 protesters
expected to march against the President and his policies today, the convention
could become a symbol of America's division rather than Republican unity.
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- Things are not going to plan for America's 43rd President.
A year ago Bush was expected to be invincible; instead he is fighting for
his political future. Last week a devastating, dirty campaign against his
Democratic opponent John Kerry's Vietnam record continued unabated. Shadowy
groups, funded by Republicans close to Bush, have chipped away at Kerry's
heroic Vietnam image, but the fight is far from won.
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- The President's supporters are gathering for what they
had hoped would be a victory party against a hopeless opponent. Instead
Bush finds himself in a neck-and-neck race.
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- The violence in Iraq is dragging on and the milestone
of the 1,000th US soldier to die there looms closer with each flag-draped
coffin returning home. The economic recovery has stalled, with Bush presiding
over a huge loss of jobs.
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- In the swing states things are falling apart. If the
election were held tomorrow, many experts believe Kerry would win. The
Republican advantage in fundraising has evaporated. Kerry matches Bush
dollar for dollar.
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- There are signs of trouble across the country. A recent
rally of war veterans in the Republican stronghold of Cincinnati in the
key battleground state of Ohio should have been a happy home for Bush.
He exhorted the thousands packing the hall to stick by him, launching a
muscular defence of the Iraq invasion: 'America is safer today because
Saddam Hussein sits in a prison cell.'
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- Veteran Eugene Watkins said: 'I favour Bush,' but Iraq
rankled with him so he paused and added: 'I might change my mind.'
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- As a man in the crowd tried to start a chorus of 'Four
more years!', the cry fell flat. Only a few voices replied and the chant
quickly died out.
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- In the distance the skyscrapers of Philadelphia gleamed
in the haze. But in the sprawling Boeing plant in the industrial suburb
of Ridley Park the focus was not on the horizon, but on Bush. With a backdrop
of two Chinook helicopters, fresh off the assembly lines, he pitched to
one of the core constituencies of swing states such as Pennsylvania: workers.
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- They go to the heart of one of the defining issues of
the campaign in the swing states: jobs. In Ohio alone 250,000 manufacturing
jobs have disappeared. To political experts the economy is one thing that
cannot be faked by campaign promises. People know if they have a job or
not. It was this that destroyed Bush's father's campaign in 1992. Bush
Junior is determined not to repeat the mistake.
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- 'I understand there's still people looking for work here
in America,' the President told thousands of Boeing workers and their families,
adding: 'So long as anybody wants to work and can't find a job, I know
we've got more work to do in Washington.'
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- Certainly Bush pulled in a crowd, but many were drawn
by his celebrity, not his politics. Susan Adomanis brought her young daughter
to see the President, but said firmly: 'I am pro-Kerry. He's better on
things like education and the economy.'
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- Bush wanted to change her mind. Pennsylvania is a key
state, and he has been here 31 times. The state has moved strongly to Kerry
in the polls. It is the same all over the swing states. In Ohio, Kerry
was ahead of Bush by 9 per cent. In Florida, decided by a few hundred contested
votes in 2000, Kerry leads by 6 per cent.
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- The Boeing plant highlighted another key election factor:
Iraq. Ridley Park churns out military helicopters. Bush praised the workers
for their war role. It was a naked pitch to patriotism. 'We're depending
on the people here,' he said to cheers.
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- It is not the war in Iraq that is Bush's main campaign
theme, however, it is the 'war on terror'. Across the American heartland,
his message is the same: America is fighting a deadly enemy, peril is everywhere,
trust me to protect you.
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- The wealthy resort of Traverse City in northern Michigan,
acclaimed for its cherry orchards, does not seem a place at war. But Bush
told thousands of its carefully corralled citizens they were in danger.
His language about terrorists was blunt. 'You cannot negotiate with these
killers,' he said. His answer was simple. Fight them. 'We will engage these
enemies around the world, so we do not have to face them here at home.'
The crowd cheered.
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- Terror is the key. Bush warned Traverse City the world
faced disaster if he did not win. 'If we show uncertainty and weakness
in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy.'
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- The President painted Kerry as unprepared to defend America.
Kerry was a man of negotiation, Bush said, while he offered deeds, not
words. 'I wake every day thinking how better to protect our country. I
will never relent in defending America, whatever it takes.'
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- Another theme is God. In Traverse City, Bush outlined
a vision of freedom spreading across the world - not a political ideology
but a religious calling. 'Freedom is not America's gift to the world. Freedom
is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world.'.
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- Unlike Kerry, Bush wears his faith comfortably, holding
prayer meetings in the White House and getting advice from clerics.
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- Bush's faith humanises him in a way Kerry can only dream
about. It is coupled with a folksy style, simple moral values, as well
as a sense of comic timing and an arsenal of jokes that pepper his speeches.
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- He lampoons Kerry's praise of Hollywood's 'heart and
soul', telling each crowd that the true heart and soul of America is their
home town.
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- All this is backed by a straitjacket of media control.
Crowds are carefully vetted, questions screened. The Republican 'war room'
in Virginia issues devastating attacks and rebuttals. On the campaign trail
journalists are herded from press pen to press pen to watch the same speech.
Questions are often referred to headquarters.
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- Kerry's campaign is a contrast. The candidate often chats
to reporters, as Bush did in 2000 when he won a reputation for off-the-record
talks. Now it is different, partly because he is President, but mostly
because of the desire for control. This election is too important for mistakes.
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- In West Virginia it was working. On a high-school football
field in the small town of Hedgesville thou sands came to see Bush. There
was a buzz of anticipation. This was Bush country. You could see this in
the people lining the roads and the yellow ribbons tied to trees. The Hedgesville
gathering felt like a revivalist meeting. They came to hear Bush talk of
terror and God. 'Morals are the most important way to judge a life. George
Bush is a good man,' said Mary Kate Moore, wife of a local church minister.
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- This was not a good place to be a Democrat. One man,
Glenn Hiller, heckled Bush about jobs and was quickly removed as the audience
shouted abuse. Later Hiller was fired from his job.
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- Bush gave a personal account of the impact of 9/11, the
defining event of his presidency. The wars it triggered, from Kabul to
Baghdad to the 'war on terror', have defined this election.
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- He talked of speaking to rescue workers in the ruins
of the World Trade Centre: 'A guy looked me in the eye and said, "Do
not let me down". He took that day personally. The people searching
the rubble took it personally. You took it personally, and so did I.'
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- 'That's right!' yelled several people. As he concluded,
Bush pledged: 'God bless you. We're on our way to victory.'
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- The audience roared their approval. If Bush is right,
God and terror will win him the election - an outcome also predicted by
the crowd. 'Four more years!' they chorused. 'Four more years!'
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/
0,13918,1293117,00.html
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