The two rivals will take the podium at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., to discuss foreign policy and homeland security.
The host state was the pivotal state in the 2000 election.
Watch the 90-minute debate live on the FOX News Channel at 9 p.m. EDT.
New CNN/USA Today/Gallup polls in arguably the three key showdown states in this year's election show President George W. Bush leading Democratic nominee John Kerry in Florida, while both candidates are engaged in close races in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Bush has a 52% to 43% lead in Florida, but much smaller advantages in Ohio (50% to 48%) and Pennsylvania (49% to 46%), both of which are within those polls' margins of error. The race in Ohio appears to be tightening when compared with a poll conducted in that state just after the Republican convention in early September.
In Florida, Bush now has his biggest lead in the four polls conducted there thus far.
President Bush leads Sen. John Kerry by 8 percentage points among likely voters, the latest USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows. That is a smaller advantage than the president held in mid-September but shows him maintaining a durable edge in a race that was essentially tied for months.
Among all registered voters, Bush's lead widened a bit to a statistically significant 11 points.
The candidates move toward their first debate Thursday with the president ahead and terrorism on voters' minds. But his margin isn't overwhelming, and campaign analysts say the three debates over the next 15 days could solidify Bush's lead - or upend it.
Poll: Still Close in Florida, Bush by Three Points Single-digit leads for Bush in Iowa, West Virginia, and Nevada among likely voters
GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ - A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll in Florida shows virtually no change in the presidential contest since last month, with likely voters leaning toward President George W. Bush by three percentage points. Similar polls of likely voters in Iowa, Nevada, and West Virginia also show Bush with single-digit leads of six to nine points that are just below or at the polls' respective margins of error.
Rove touts Bush headway in key areas by Bill Sammon
President Bush expects to help Republicans gain up to four Senate seats and seven House seats in November and already is running Sen. John Kerry out of states that had been considered battlegrounds, White House political strategist Karl Rove said yesterday.
"A lot of states that were expected to be in close contention are floating out of contention: North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri; maybe Colorado, Arizona," he said.
"I mean, some of them are gone; North Carolina is gone," he said of the home state of Mr. Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards. "Arkansas is gone. If it's not gone, it will be gone on November 2nd."
"There will be some surprises. Last time around, West Virginia was a surprise. There'll be a couple of other surprises this election."
Allies Uber Alles
Why is John Kerry so obsessed with France and Germany?
by Tom Donnelly
WHAT IS IT with John Kerry and "allies?"
At some point, you have to take the French and the Germans at their word--especially when it involves not going to war--but only a little less so when it means not spending money. It takes a very willful sort of myopia to believe that, if it weren't for their irritation with President Bush, the "allies"--and this is code for France and Germany--would be standing shoulder to shoulder to us in Iraq...
George Bush Speaks to the United Nations General Assembly
"Both the American Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaim the equal value and dignity of every human life. That dignity is honored by the rule of law, limits on the power of the state, respect for women, protection of private property, free speech, equal justice, and religious tolerance. That dignity is dishonored by oppression, corruption, tyranny, bigotry, terrorism and all violence against the innocent. And both of our founding documents affirm that this bright line between justice and injustice -- between right and wrong -- is the same in every age, and every culture, and every nation".
"In this young century, our world needs a new definition of security. Our security is not merely found in spheres of influence, or some balance of power. The security of our world is found in the advancing rights of mankind".
"Because we believe in human dignity, America and many nations have established a global fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria".
"Because we believe in human dignity, America and many nations have joined together to confront the evil of trafficking in human beings".
"Because we believe in human dignity, we should take seriously the protection of life from exploitation under any pretext".
"Because we believe in human dignity, America and many nations have acted to lift the crushing burden of debt that limits the growth of developing economies, and holds millions of people in poverty". "And to prevent the build-up of future debt, my country and other nations have agreed that international financial institutions should increasingly provide new aid in the form of grants, rather than loans".
"More than 10 million Afghan citizens -- over 4 million of them women -- are now registered to vote in next month's presidential election. To any who still would question whether Muslim societies can be democratic societies, the Afghan people are giving their answer".
John Kerry finally covered all the spectrum of possible positions on Iraq. Now it's too costly and subtract money for health care and schooling. Does anybody need more populism?
Buffeted by criticism from Democratic Sen. John Kerry on Iraq, President Bush accused his Democratic rival Monday of a "pattern of twisting in the wind" and leaving behind a thicket of contradictory positions on the war.
"Today my opponent continued his pattern of twisting in the wind. He apparently woke up this morning and has now decided, no, we should not have invaded Iraq, after just last month saying he would have voted for force even knowing everything we know today".
"Incredibly, he now believes our national security would be stronger with Saddam Hussein in power and not in prison".
"He's saying he prefers the stability of a dictatorship to the hope and security of democracy".
"I couldn't disagree more, and not so long ago, so did my opponent. Those who believe we are not safer with his capture don't have the judgment to be president or the credibility to be elected president."
NEW YORK - No responsible commander in chief would have invaded Iraq knowing Saddam Hussein didn't possess weapons of mass destruction and wasn't an imminent threat to the United States, John Kerry said Monday.
"Yet today, President Bush tells us that he would do everything all over again, the same way. How can he possibly be serious?" the Democratic presidential candidate said during a speech New York University, where he slammed Bush on all things Iraq.
Kerry, a four-term Massachusetts senator, voted to give Bush authority to wage the war and said in August he would have voted that way even had he known there were no banned weapons in Iraq.
WASHINGTON - A presidential election that has lasted a year and more, cost a billion dollars and divided the nation into two unyielding camps is likely to be settled by this: Two or three 90-minute encounters in college auditoriums.
The face-to-face showdowns on national TV being negotiated by partisan teams of lawyers and strategists have been important factors in five of the past seven presidential elections - that is, in every contest since 1976 that was considered potentially competitive - and probably were decisive in 1960, 1980 and 2000.
Bush, who has begun rehearsals at his Texas ranch, Camp David and the White House, could seal the deal with wavering voters who have concerns about his stewardship of the economy and the war with Iraq.
Kerry, who has been reading Bush's campaign speeches to find potential lines of attack, could use the debates as an opening to make the case to those same voters that he offers a trustworthy alternative.
Both men are skillful debaters, though in different ways - Bush is straight-talking and strong, Kerry is knowledgeable and aggressive. They have perfect records: Each has prevailed against highly regarded opponents in every debate critical to his career.
Bush-Cheney '04 announced the release of the campaign's newest television advertisement, "Common Sense Vs. Higher Taxes."
The television advertisement highlights President Bush and Congressional leaders' plans to grow our economy through a fairer, simpler tax code, lower health care costs, increased investments in education, more help for communities and less dependence on foreign oil.
The agenda of the President and Congressional leaders for a more hopeful America stands in contrast to John Kerry and the liberals' plans for tax increases that would hurt small businesses, kill jobs and derail our economy.
Bush Bounce Keeps On Going President leads Kerry by 13 points among likely voters;
8 points among registered voters
PRINCETON, NJ -- In a new Gallup Poll, conducted Sept. 13-15, President George W. Bush leads Democratic candidate John Kerry by 55% to 42% among likely voters, and by 52% to 44% among registered voters. These figures represent a significant improvement for Bush since just before the beginning of the Republican National Convention.
In last week's WASHINGTONPOSTWABCNEWS Poll, John F. Kerry was viewed favorably by 36 percent of registered voters, down 18 points over the past six months. But just how low Kerry's standing has fallen cannot be appreciated fully without comparing his standing with that of other household names in GALLUP polls over the years, the POST's Dana Milbank reported on Tuesday. Kerry finds himself in a dead heat with Martha Stewart and Joseph McCarthy, and behind Herbert Hoover -- although he narrowly beats O.J. Simpson.
Bush Exceeds or Ties With Kerry
on Most Ratings of Presidential Characteristics
The net effect of the convention period on George W. Bush's personal image was quite positive. Spanning the two conventions -- from late July until early September -- public perceptions of Bush's presidential qualities and characteristics generally improved, while Democratic candidate John Kerry's remained flat or declined slightly.
As a result, Bush now exceeds Kerry by nearly two-to-one as the candidate more likely to be described as "a strong and decisive leader." He also leads as the more "honest and trustworthy." Bush has smaller leads or ties with Kerry on most other personal dimensions measured.
Kerry's one advantage is the perception that he "cares about the needs of people like you."
Teresa Heinz Kerry says "only an idiot" would fail to support her husband's health care plan.
But Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, told the (Lancaster) Intelligencer Journal that "of course, there are idiots."
He's trying quite hard, this incidental JFK. In order to lose, of course. Now he says that the Department of Health and Human Services is not enough. Absolutely not. Americans deserve a Department of Wellness. Quite straight for a guy who is said to use botox. What next? A Department of Cellulite.
Sen. John Kerry and the Democratic Party are limiting television advertising to just 14 states as the fall campaign opens, curbing their ambitions for a broader playing field against President Bush. The shift reduces Missouri, Colorado, Arizona and four Southern states to second-tier status.
GALLUP NEWS SERVICE Can Election Probabilities Be Established at This Point?
Only 2 of the last 17 elections precisely fit the pattern John Kerry needs to win the race for president this year: those with a "gap change" of more than seven points and a lead change between Labor Day and Election Day.
The two elections that would constitute a precedent for a Kerry win were the come-from-behind victories of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and Harry Truman in 1948.
Two other races -- in 1976 and 1968 -- came close to these specifications (although ultimately, the Labor Day leader won the election).
Thus, of the last 17 elections, 4 can be said to have demonstrated the rough pattern of Labor Day to Election Day change that would be necessary for Kerry to win this year.
John Flip Flop Kerry accused President Bush of sending U.S. troops to the "wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time" and said he'd try to bring them all home in four years.
President Bush: "After voting for the war, but against funding it, after saying he would have voted for the war even knowing everything we know today, my opponent woke up this morning with new campaign advisers and yet another new position".
ITALIAN COMMUNIST LEADER EXPLAINS HIS PURPOSE: DECLINE OF AMERICA AND MEANS: VOTE FOR KERRY
In a recent interview, the Italian Communist Refoundation Party leader, Fausto Bertinotti, states his will: the decline of United States power. And then he explains how to achieve it: if he would be an American citizen, he would vote for Kerry.
Interviewer: Piero Fassino [an Italian leftist leader], in his latest interview, pointed out the necessity to rebuild a firm relationship with the United States of America. The reason - he says - is that it is impossible a multilateral strategy without the USA. Do you agree?
Bertinotti: Absolutely not. Indeed I wish the decline of United States power. An advantageous possibility, beneficial to all of us, thanks to other world powers rise, from China to Brasil. Not to mention Europe, obviously.
Interviewer: If you were an American citizen would you vote for Kerry?
Bertinotti: In the last elections, when Al Gore was opposed to Bush, I would have voted for Nader. I've never admired Clinton. Instead, today, I would vote for Kerry, because I rely on American and worldwide pacifist movement capacity to coax and compel Kerry going further in his stances.
Senator John Kerry has made his 4-month combat tour in Vietnam the centerpiece of his bid for the Presidency. His campaign jets a handful of veterans around the country, and trots them out at public appearances to sing his praises. John Kerry wants us to believe that these men represent all those he calls his "band of brothers."
But most combat veterans who served with John Kerry in Vietnam see him in a very different light.
Mr. Chairman, delegates, fellow citizens: I am honored by your support, and I accept your nomination for President of the United States.
When I said those words four years ago, none of us could have envisioned what these years would bring. In the heart of this great city, we saw tragedy arrive on a quiet morning. We saw the bravery of rescuers grow with danger. We learned of passengers on a doomed plane who died with a courage that frightened their killers. We have seen a shaken economy rise to its feet. And we have seen Americans in uniform storming mountain strongholds, and charging through sandstorms, and liberating millions, with acts of valor that would make the men of Normandy proud.
Since 2001, Americans have been given hills to climb, and found the strength to climb them. Now, because we have made the hard journey, we can see the valley below. Now, because we have faced challenges with resolve, we have historic goals within our reach, and greatness in our future. We will build a safer world and a more hopeful America -- and nothing will hold us back.
In the work we have done, and the work we will do, I am fortunate to have a superb Vice President. I have counted on Dick Cheney's calm and steady judgment in difficult days, and I am honored to have him at my side.
Michael Reagan, who introduced a video tribute to his father, thanked everyone who supported his family after the late president's death.
"Ronald Reagan didn't win the Cold War and ignite our economy with funny stories and beautiful words. He wasn't just a great communicator, he communicated great ideas. Where did his ideas come from? They came from his beliefs," Michael Reagan said.
"He believed America was placed between the oceans to be a beacon of freedom for the world, a place where man was not beholden to government, government was beholden to man...
Throughout his life, his belief in the American people never wavered."
The eight-minute video, produced by Phil Dusenberry for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation, made extensive use of the deceased president's voice and contained Nancy Reagan's first public remarks about the outpouring of emotion that greeted the death of the president two months ago.
"Senator Kerry's liveliest disagreement is with himself. His back-and-forth reflects a habit of indecision, and sends a message of confusion. And it is all part of a pattern"
"Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. It makes the whole thing mutual. America sees two John Kerrys"
"Under President Bush we have put in place new policies and created new institutions to defend America, to stop terrorist violence at its source, and to help move the Middle East away from old hatreds and resentments and toward the lasting peace that only freedom can bring"
"This is the work not of months, but of years, and keeping these commitments is essential to our future security. For that reason, ladies and gentlemen, the election of 2004 is one of the most important, not just in our lives but in our history"
"Sept. 11, 2001, made clear the challenges we face ... just as surely as the Nazis during World War II and the Soviet communists during the Cold War, the enemy we face today is bent on our destruction. The fanatics who killed some 3,000 of our fellow Americans may have thought they could attack us with impunity … but if the killers of Sept. 11 thought we had lost the will to defend our freedom, they did not know America ... and they did not know George W. Bush"
WONDERFUL MILLER Miller, a Democrat, chastised Kerry for voting against weapons programs.
"This is the man who wants to be the commander in chief of our U.S. Armed Forces?" Miller asked. "U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?"
"I remember some very quiet nights at the dinner table. George was weighing grim scenarios and ominous intelligence about potentially even more devastating attacks," Mrs. Bush said in a prime-time speech to the Republican convention.
"And I was there when my husband had to decide," she said.
It was a rare foray into foreign policy for a political spouse whose main campaign focus has been on schools and children. More than half her speech dealt with the wars on terror and in Iraq.
President Bush introduced his wife to the delegates by satellite from a campaign stop in Pennsylvania. He will address the convention in person on Thursday, when he accepts the party's nomination.
"I am a lucky man to have Laura by my side," Bush said.
The couple's 22-year-old daughters, Jenna and Barbara were the first family members at the podium Tuesday, part of their new prominence in their father's campaign.
"They taught us the importance of a good sense of humor, of being open-minded and treating everyone with respect," Barbara Bush said of her parents.
At the start of her speech, the first lady waved to her in-laws in a special box with the presidential seal. In response, former first lady Barbara Bush stood with a "We love Laura" sign, a red heart for "love."
Laura Bush compared her husband to great wartime presidents.
"No American president ever wants to go to war. Abraham Lincoln didn't want to go to war, but he knew saving the union required it. FranklinRoosevelt didn't want to go to war, but he knew defeating tyranny demanded it. And my husband didn't want to go to war, but he knew the safety and security of America and the world depended on it."
She had listened and watched as Bush met and talked with foreign leaders, about the "threat from Saddam Hussein," Mrs. Bush said.
"Our parents' generation confronted tyranny and liberated millions," she said.
"Many of my generation remember growing up at the height of the Cold War, hiding under desks during civil defense drills in case the communists attacked us," she said.
Parents should tell their children that "police and firemen, and military and intelligence workers are doing everything possible to keep them safe," and there is no need to hide under desks anymore, she said.
"Because of President Bush's leadership and the bravery of our men and women in uniform, I believe our children will grow up in a world where today's terror threats have also become a thing of the past," she said.
Four years ago, at the GOP convention in Philadelphia, Mrs. Bush delivered a warm testimonial to her husband, telling delegates her husband's values wouldn't waver "with the winds of polls or politics." Four years earlier, Elizabeth Dole, wife of GOP nominee Bob Dole, spoke of her husband's humility and honesty, describing unpublicized occasions when he had done things for the less fortunate.
In 1992, after the first Persian Gulf War, then-first lady Barbara Bush used her convention speech to talk about den mothering, carpooling, Little Leaguing. The focus was anything but waging war.
This time, this Mrs. Bush said her goal was to "answer the question that I believe many people would ask me if we sat down for a cup of coffee or ran into each other at the store: You know him better than anyone -- you've seen things no one else has seen -- why do you think we should re-elect your husband as president?"
Her answer: Bush's vision for a safer world.
"We are living in the midst of the most historic struggle my generation has ever known. The stakes are so high."
Polls show Mrs. Bush is popular -- more popular than her husband -- and she has been a more frequent campaigner than usual this year, in what she often calls their last campaign.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger drew on his childhood in Soviet-occupied Austria to endorse President Bush's war on terror. "Terrorism is more insidious than communism," the bodybuilder-turned-politician said Tuesday in a speech to the Republican convention.
Bush "knows you don't reason with terrorists. You defeat them. He knows you can't reason with people blinded by hate," he said.
Putting his star power to work for President Bush in a prime-time address, Schwarzenegger also urged optimism about the country's economy.
"To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: 'Don't be economic girlie men!"' Schwarzenegger said - a line from a Saturday Night Live spoof of him that he used against Democratic legislators earlier this year.
Schwarzenegger was trying to reintroduce himself as a politician to a country that might still see him as a movie star. The convention appearance was his first chance to give a purely political speech to a national television audience since taking office in California last November.
Schwarzenegger's wife, Kennedy relative and Democrat Maria Shriver, watched from a convention hall box with the couple's four children, aged 6-14. She was seated next to President Bush's parents, Barbara Bush and former President George H.W. Bush, who appointed Schwarzenegger to head the President's Council on Physical Fitness.
"Wow, this is like winning an Oscar - as if I would know!" the governor said when he took the stage to wild applause from delegates who waved signs reading "The Governator" and "Arnold Rocks."
In his remarks, Schwarzenegger never named Democratic nominee John Kerry, with whom he is friendly, and the speech was peppered with jokes rather than partisan attacks.
Schwarzenegger told delegates how he arrived in the United States as a young bodybuilder knowing little English, became Mr. Universe, a Hollywood star, and then governor of the nation's most populous state in an unprecedented recall election last year.
He welcomed his fellow immigrants to the Republican Party. "We Republicans admire your ambition. We encourage your dreams. We believe in your future," he said.
"I want other people to get the same chances I did, the same opportunities," he said.
He said he decided to become a Republican after watching Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon debate. He said he concluded, "Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air."
How could other immigrants know they're a Republican?
"If you believe that government should be accountable to the people, not the people to the government - then you're a Republican!" he said, repeating the refrain that brought the crowd to its feet.
Recalling growing up in Austria when the Soviet tanks rolled through his homeland, Schwarzenegger said the Bush administration should not waiver from its determination to fight terrorists scattered across the globe.
"My fellow Americans, make no mistake about it - terrorism is more insidious than communism, because it yearns to destroy not just the individual but the entire international order."
Earlier in the day, Schwarzenegger made an unannounced stop at a Manhattan fire house that suffered heavy casualties on Sept. 11 and bought pizza for the firefighters.
Despite Schwarzenegger's praise of Bush, he's been cautious so far in promoting the president's re-election. The two have appeared together in California but Schwarzenegger has sent mixed signals about campaigning for Bush outside California.
Schwarzenegger's popularity in Democrat-leaning California rests in part on his bipartisan, moderate image - an image that could be tarnished if he embraces Bush too closely, analysts say.
Bush's approval rating stood at 40 percent in California in an August poll, compared with 65 percent for Schwarzenegger. The two disagree on issues including abortion rights, which Schwarzenegger supports, and amending the Constitution to ban gay marriage, which he opposes.
And despite Schwarzenegger's welcoming words, the GOP is torn about the face it reveals to immigrants. The new party platform endorses President Bush's request to give temporary legal status to illegal workers, but conservatives hate that plan, and Hispanic groups complain it doesn't go far enough.
Schwarzenegger supports Bush's proposal but is expected to veto a bill that just landed on his desk that would give drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants. He also was criticized during last fall's recall campaign for supporting Proposition 187, the 1994 California measure that would have denied state services to illegal immigrants.
While the speech showcased Schwarzenegger as a political leader, it's not clear what his political future might hold. As a foreign-born citizen he could not run for president unless the Constitution were amended.
Schwarzenegger became governor after California voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat.
If I were in the U.S. maybe I'd vote for Kerry. According to Bush - I suppose - there is a strong link between his religion, his faith, and politics he chooses and puts into effect: instead, I think it is too strong, and so, about how religion and politics stand one with the other, I prefer Kerry. That's the difference. But Kerry is a democrat, and democrats mean more taxes (equation imported in Italy by Berlusconi).
I'm Italian and I can't vote, I can only give an advice. I hope for Bush living four more years in the White House.
I think foreign policy is interesting to me, because I am not an American citizen, and so, when I listen to Kerry saying that he wants a "more sensitive war on terror", I think: "More sensitive... what?".We do not need a "more sensitive war". Maybe a more sensible war but not sensible like "Fort sensible" in an old "The Simpsons", where Bart went to the civic museum and the guide said: "Indians were round the fort and asked for the captain". Bart: "And what did they do? They resisted until they died." Guide: "No. They gave the captain to the indians. That's the name Fort Sensible".
Several of the Mayor's lines brought laughter and roaring approval to the floor audience, but this one had a serious message, and it defines what's at stake in these serious times:
"I don't believe we're right about everything and Democrats are wrong. They're wrong about most things. But - but- but, seriously, seriously, neither party has a monopoly on virtue. We don't have all the right ideas. They don't have all the wrong ideas".
"But I do believe there are times in history when our ideas are more necessary and more important and critical. And this is one of those times when we are facing war and danger. These are times - these are times when leadership is the most important".
- ITALIAN LINK -
In questa pagina e' stata raccolta una breve rassegna stampa in lingua italiana riguardante la partecipazione di Giuliani alla Convention repubblicana.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
New ad by The Club For Growth
President Bush expects to help Republicans gain up to four Senate seats and seven House seats in November and already is running Sen. John Kerry out of states that had been considered battlegrounds, White House political strategist Karl Rove said yesterday.
"Both the American Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaim the equal value and dignity of every human life. That dignity is honored by the rule of law, limits on the power of the state, respect for women, protection of private property, free speech, equal justice, and religious tolerance. That dignity is dishonored by oppression, corruption, tyranny, bigotry, terrorism and all violence against the innocent. And both of our founding documents affirm that this bright line between justice and injustice -- between right and wrong -- is the same in every age, and every culture, and every nation".
John Kerry finally covered all the spectrum of possible positions on Iraq. Now it's too 
Buffeted by criticism from Democratic Sen. John Kerry on Iraq, 
"I remember some very quiet nights at the dinner table. George was weighing grim scenarios and ominous intelligence about potentially even more devastating attacks," Mrs. Bush said in a prime-time speech to the Republican convention.
"To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: 'Don't be economic girlie men!"' Schwarzenegger said - a line from a Saturday Night Live spoof of him that he used against Democratic legislators earlier this year.
Several of the Mayor's lines brought laughter and roaring approval to the floor audience, but this one had a serious message, and it defines what's at stake in these serious times:
