Bush to prepare for debate after visit to swing state

Bush maintains Saddam was a threat.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- After a day trip to woo voters in the swing state of Wisconsin, President Bush planned a weekend break from presidential campaigning to prepare for the first of three debates with Democratic rival John Kerry.
Bush was attending campaign rallies in Janesville and Racine in pursuit of Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes. Afterward, he was headed to his Crawford, Texas, ranch to begin cramming for Thursday's debate.
Wisconsin, won by Democrat Al Gore four years ago by a scant 5,708 votes, is being hotly contested by both campaigns. Polls show Bush slightly ahead in the state, which he has visited 15 times.
Mike Sheridan, president of the United Auto Workers local in Janesville, said union members would use today's visit to show their support for Kerry. "I think it will fire up anti-Bush sentiment even more," Sheridan told the Janesville Gazette.
Detailed strategy
Meanwhile, Kerry, intensifying his assault on Bush's record fighting terrorism, is outlining a detailed strategy to contain terrorists and bolster national security.
In a speech for delivery at Temple University, Kerry sought to describe a path that would improve America's prestige in the world and reduce the country's vulnerability to terrorists.
"Our goal is that at the end of that, people will say, 'This guy will seek and defeat the terrorist,"' said spokesman Mike McCurry.
Kerry planned to outline his strategy against terrorism today, a day after telling The Columbus Dispatch that the president's actions in Iraq and elsewhere show Bush masquerading as a mainstream conservative while pursuing extremist policies.
Set to arrive
Kerry is scheduled to arrive in Spring Green, Wis., on Sunday for several days of seclusion and preparation for the 90-minute debate, to be held in Miami, Fla., and focus on the campaign's central issues of foreign policy and homeland security. It will be Kerry's ninth visit to the state this year.
The last Republican presidential candidate to win Wisconsin was Ronald Reagan in 1984. But the traditionally Democratic state has grown more Republican in recent years, giving Bush's advisers hope they can pick it up this year.
Bush made a quick campaign trip to Maine on Thursday, after a morning of events focused on his policy in Iraq. Bush met at the White House with Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and the two took questions at a Rose Garden news conference.
In Wisconsin, Bush was expected to continue his strong defense of the Iraq war and the ouster of Saddam Hussein, as he did during an airport campaign rally in Bangor, Maine, the day before.
"Saddam was a threat," Bush told several hundred supporters, adding that after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, it became clear "we must take threats seriously before they materialize ... You cannot win the war on terror if you wilt when things get tough."
At the Bangor airport, Bush surprised nearly 300 soldiers bound for Iraq when he boarded their charter aircraft, which had stopped not far from Air Force One for refueling.