In Wisconsin, Bush embraces jobs report

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. - Bearing good news on the economy, President Bush touted his tax cuts Friday as he campaigned in the farmlands of Iowa and Wisconsin, a region that eluded him in the 2000 election.

"I'm not really here to politick you too much," Bush told hundreds of enthusiastic backers in the town square. With the nation's capital absorbed in the Iraqi prison abuse scandal, Bush said, "Thank you for the excuse of getting out of Washington."

Throughout the day, Bush cited the photographs of prisoners that have been aired globally in recent days. "I'm just as disgusted of those images you've seen on TV as you are," he said. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said that the president's aides gave him updates about Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's testimony "a few times" but that Bush did not watch or listen to it from his red, white and blue bus.

Friday was the third day this week that Bush devoted to a bus tour of the Midwest to promote his re-election, an expenditure of time extraordinary for a sitting president six months before the elections.

PHOENIX, Ariz. - Sen. John Kerry's speech Friday to the centrist Democratic Leadership Council represented one of his most overt efforts to move his candidacy from the angry rhetoric of the Democratic primaries and to embrace a message aimed at a broader, general election audience.

Kerry seized on the theme of strength - an idea he mentioned at least 29 times in the speech - to frame his differences with Bush. He sought to prevent the president from holding the high ground on terrorism and national security, while trying to capture more of the middle ground domestically with his declaration to protect the middle class and fight for fiscal responsibility.

"It is time America had a president who understands that strength abroad means providing real leadership in the world and taking responsibility for the bad as well as the good," Kerry said. "And strength at home means building a stronger economy by getting results for all the American people and demanding accountability."

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was in the audience, called the speech "a clear move to the center, and I'm glad. The election is going to be won in the center."

WASHINGTON - President Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry are virtually tied in their race for state electoral votes.

Six months before Election Day, Bush controls or has an edge in 24 states that account for 205 electoral votes, 65 shy of the 270 needed to win the wide-open race. The Democratic challenger has the advantage in 14 states plus the District of Columbia for 205 electoral votes.

In the dozen remaining states (128 electoral votes), the contest is either tied or there's no adequate polling, according to an Associated Press review of public and private surveys as well as interviews with analysts in key states.

WASHINGTON - Barbara Bush has a Mother's Day present of her own for son George.

The former first lady sent a fundraising e-mail Friday urging donors to help President Bush's re-election campaign raise money from a million donors.

"With Mother's Day coming up this weekend, I've been thinking about how proud I am of our children," Mrs. Bush wrote. "And it's with a mother's pride that I'm writing you today to ask you to support our eldest, George W., and his re-election campaign with a donation of $1,000, $500, $250, $100 or $50."

Mrs. Bush is among several members of the Bush family raising money for the campaign. Others include first lady Laura Bush, former President George Bush, presidential sister Doro Bush Koch and brother Jeb Bush, Florida's governor.

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