PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN Both candidates continue to target Ohio

A new poll shows black voters prefer Kerry to Bush by a nearly 4-1 margin.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Bush, who for a time was making weekly visits to battleground Ohio, hasn't appeared in the state for more than two weeks, while Democratic challenger John Kerry has scheduled five campaign stops in the state both sides label must-win.
The Republican incumbent's supporters note Bush plans to be in Canton on Friday -- 20 days after his last Ohio stop when he spoke in Cuyahoga Falls, Columbus and Mansfield about homeownership and other topics.
Senior Bush advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Monday that Bush plans to hit every media market in Ohio before Election Day, starting with Friday's visit.
Troops in Iraq
In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press aboard Air Force One on Monday, Bush said he doesn't envision a longtime presence of U.S. troops in Iraq similar to post-World War II deployments in Europe and South Korea that continue today.
"I think the Iraqi people want us to leave once we've helped them get on the path of stability and democracy and once we have trained their troops to do their own hard work," Bush said.
Still, Bush said, "It's very difficult for me to predict what forces will exist, although I will tell you that Iraq's leadership has made it quite clear that they can manage their own affairs at the appropriate time."
If free and open Iraqi elections lead to the seating of a fundamentalist Islamic government, "I will be disappointed. But democracy is democracy," Bush said. "If that's what the people choose, that's what the people choose."
The president spent the night in St. Petersburg Beach, Fla., and was campaigning across Florida today.
Kerry strategy
When Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry wants to make a point, he rips the headlines from the day's newspapers and works them into his stump speeches, highlighting bad news about the economy, gas prices, health care costs and military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. His campaign said the Democratic presidential candidate uses the news to present evidence of the mistakes and mismanagement by Bush that Kerry talks about at campaign stops.
"What we see in the news is George Bush's failed record," said Kerry spokeswoman Allison Dobson. "Either George Bush isn't in touch with what's really going on, or he either doesn't care or is misleading the public."
Bush's campaign said the pattern shows an opponent grasping at headlines while the president concentrates on bigger issues.
New poll
A poll released today shows that blacks prefer Kerry over Bush by a nearly 4-to-1 margin, though their support for the Democrat is down slightly from the backing Al Gore received in 2000.
Bush didn't get good marks for his handling of the war in Iraq or for his overall job performance, according to the poll of black Americans from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The center is a Washington-based research group that focuses on issues concerning blacks.
Bush enjoys stronger support than in 2000 from those age 50 and older and those who consider themselves "Christian conservatives."
That has helped the president narrow the still sizable gap with Kerry among blacks, who preferred the Massachusetts senator over Bush, 69 percent to 18 percent.
Other polls have found a similar trend among blacks.
Another group targeted by both presidential candidates is youths 18 to 30. The group's preference may be the biggest wild card in the Nov. 2 election. Kerry says re-electing Bush would create "the great potential of a draft." Not so, responds the incumbent: "The best way to avoid the draft is to vote for me."
The fact that both Bush and Kerry are on record opposing mandatory military service speaks volumes about the audience they're targeting with their dueling draft scares -- young voters.
Young voters were evenly divided between Bush and Kerry in polling conducted this month by Ipsos-Public Affairs for Newsweek.com and The Associated Press. Among likely voters under age 30, Kerry led 52 percent to 42 percent.
Both vice presidential candidates were campaigning Monday in Pennsylvania.
Republican Dick Cheney was at a town hall meeting in Johnstown, and Democrat John Edwards told the crowd in Haverford that the president was trying to "con the American people" into believing that he's the only one who can fight terrorism."