from the Canonsburg newspaper concerning the previous post....
(NOTHING HERE...)
Grumpy
_______________________

Candidates hit Midwest with Labor Day jobs messages

MARY DALRYMPLE
Associated Press

CANONSBURG, Pa. - Democrat John Kerry opened his packed Labor Day schedule in battleground states Monday with talk of jobs, criticizing the Bush administration for doing little to help workers in a tough economy.

"If you want four more years of your wages falling ... if you want four more years of losing jobs overseas and replacing them with jobs that pay $9,000 less than the jobs you had before, then you should go vote for George Bush," Kerry said at an early rally.

Jobs, not surprisingly, was the order of the day for both campaigns, which were fanning out across the Midwest, appealing for votes in the territory pivotal to winning November's election.

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were heading to three states between them Monday; Kerry and running mate John Edwards were venturing to six. Cheney and Edwards set campaign courses that cross paths in St. Paul, Minn.

Polls in half the eight states on the candidates' Labor Day agenda - Minnesota, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Ohio - show them running neck-and-neck. Those four states offer 58 electoral votes, more than 20 percent of the total needed to win.

Kerry chose to spend his Labor Day in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, hoping to sway traditionally Democratic West Virginia away from its tilt toward Bush. He joins mine workers in a Labor Day celebration.

Armed with statistics, Kerry told workers that Bush had done little to help them weather bad economic times.

"If you want health care for all Americans, if you want schools that work, if you want jobs that pay you more money, if you want Social Security that's there for the future, then we need to move America in a new direction," he said.

Kerry's campaign said jobs created under Bush's watch pay less and offer fewer benefits than those lost, as employers struggle to handle increased health care costs.

Several studies by private economists show that new jobs created in the last year pay below the median hourly wage for all jobs.

Bush, campaigning Sunday in West Virginia, said Kerry would "stifle job creation" with tax increases. Kerry wants to roll back Bush's income and investment tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of the nation.

"My opponent has promised to raise some taxes. That's a promise politicians tend to keep," Bush said. "This Labor Day weekend, it's important for America's workers to know that my opponent wants to tax your jobs."

Bush was shoring up support late Monday in Missouri, where strategists say the close race leans in Bush's direction.

Kerry, who has fallen behind in recent polls, spoke at length Sunday with former President Clinton, who was undergoing heart bypass surgery in a New York hospital Monday.

Clinton reinforced his view that a strong campaign message can be hammered out of Bush's record on jobs, Iraq and other issues, said a Democratic official familiar with the talk who asked not to be identified.

The New York Times first reported the Kerry-Clinton chat in Monday editions.

Meanwhile, with many Democrats outside Kerry's team urging the candidate to take steps to reinvigorate his campaign, Kerry has moved John Sasso, a longtime adviser, from the Democratic National Committee to a top spot inside his campaign. Sasso will be a senior adviser traveling with Kerry through the Nov. 2 election.

The economy is looming large in voters' minds.

Bush has worked to convince voters that three successive tax cuts pushed the economy toward growth after dual hits sustained by a recession and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Kerry has tried to convince voters that the tax cuts left the country saddled with debt and did little to restore the country's economic health or create jobs.

Although payroll jobs have grown by 1.7 million in the last 12 months, the economy still has lost 913,000 jobs overall since Bush took office.

A new Time magazine poll showed six in 10 Americans called economic conditions poor or only fair, while 32 percent called conditions good or excellent.

The poll showed Americans evenly split on Bush's handling of the economy, with 49 percent approving and 48 percent disapproving. However, 57 percent said they felt they had not personally benefited from his tax cuts.

ON THE NET

Kerry campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com

Bush campaign: http://www.georgewbush.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© 2004 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.thestate.com