President Bush and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry both campaign in Davenport at the same time Wednesday morning, another signal the Bush/Kerry race is too close to call here. Republican National Committee chairman Marc Racicot. Racicot says “there’s an awful lot of political parity” in the country, partly because the issues of today are complex. But Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe says Bush’s failures are simple to understand. McAuliffe says Bush’s record of “dismal job creation” coupled with Kerry’s promise to cut taxes for most Americans will help swing Iowa and other Midwest states into the Kerry column in November. Racicot says Bush’s tax cuts for all Americans are helping to turn the economy around. Racicot says homeland security and economic issues are critically important to all voters. He says there are other issues like trade, farm policy and barge traffic on the river that are of “unique” interest to Midwesterners. McAuliffe says his democratic party is targeting the “industrial heartland” of the country. McAuliffe says democrats have the largest campaign operation ever to get out the vote, with staff already hired and in place in every state in the country. Racicot, the republican party leader, says Bush and Kerry are running neck-in-neck in the polls partly because Kerry secured the democratic party’s nomination months ago and was able to focus all his fire on President Bush. McAuliffe says that meant Americans had more time to directly compare the two candidates — Bush and Kerry — against one another. Kerry will speak at a rally in Dubuque late Tuesday afternoon, then both Kerry and Bush will appear in Davenport on Wednesday morning. Bush will speak at a rally; Kerry will lead a roundtable discussion about the economy.
