Kerry raps 'bad work'; Bush pleads to Dems

Both candidates are trying to snag undecided voters.
SIOUX CITY, IOWA (AP) -- Sen. John Kerry appealed to middle class voters in the election homestretch today, saying President Bush had sold them out to help the wealthy and now wants "four more years so that he can keep up the bad work." Bush put together an end game that included persistent appeals for Democratic votes and a rarely used weapon in this bruising campaign -- a positive commercial.
With their agendas laid out, Bush and Kerry were trying to create an aura of excitement in get-out-the-vote rallies, hoping to snag the dwindling pool of voters who haven't taken sides.
Celebrity influence
Rockers Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi were rejoining the Kerry campaign, minstrels in his fast-moving gallery. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was bringing his star power -- and moderate GOP reputation -- to Bush's side later in the week.
Kerry said today: "After four years in office, this president has failed middle-class families with almost every choice he's made. He's given more to those with the most at the expense of middle-class working families who are struggling to get ahead.
"Now he's asking you to give him four more years so that he can keep up the bad work," Kerry said in remarks prepared for a rally in Sioux City.
Bush turned to the iconoclastic Democratic Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia to introduce him today at Pennsylvania and Ohio events, in keeping with his late-breaking appeals to Democrats who aren't sold on their own party's nominee.
The president has been talking up the "great tradition of the Democratic Party," citing the steeliness in crises shown by the likes of Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy, to make the point Kerry doesn't measure up.
'Closing arguments'
The Democrat was focusing on economic troubles in the Sioux City speech today before stumping in Minnesota and back in Iowa, at a Cedar Rapids event. Aides saw that speech and one Friday that will blend his campaign's economic and foreign policy proposals as his "closing arguments" for change. The speeches were added to his schedule after aides had said earlier that a speech Tuesday on homeland security was to be his last of the campaign.
After ripping Kerry for weeks as an equivocator, Bush planned to close the contest with a 60-second commercial meant to show him as steady, trustworthy and compassionate in dangerous times.
The ad shows an emotional president telling the Republican National Convention about meeting the children and parents of slain U.S. soldiers, as well as wounded servicemen and women.
"These four years have brought moments I could not foresee and will not forget," Bush says. "I've learned firsthand that ordering Americans into battle is the hardest decision, even when it is right."
The commercial will be seen by a limited audience, given that it will run only on a couple national cable news networks.