White House Rejects Kerry Dirty Tricks Attack As 'baseless'

CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 19 (AFP) - The White House on Thursday strongly rejected accusations by Democratic presidential contender John Kerry that President George W. Bush had used a front group to attack his Vietnam war record.
"Senator Kerry knows that his latest attack is false and baseless," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan as tensions mounted in the Bush-Kerry battle for the November 2 election.
Kerry, who has used his war hero record to establish his national security credentials, has been the target of adverts by a group of Vietnam war veterans who say he has lied about his wartime exploits.
The Massachusetts senator said in a speech earlier Thursday that: "The fact that the president won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything you need to know: He wants them to do his dirty work."
"The president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that."
Bush has started a one-week holiday at his Texas ranch and his official spokesman said: "The president has condemned all of the ads by the shadowy groups and we have called on Senator Kerry to join us in calling for an end to all the unregulated soft money activity that is going on in this campaign.
"Apparently Senator Kerry was against this soft money activity previously too and now he appears to be for it as long as it benefits his campaign."
Campaign finance laws limit the amount that the two candidates can spend on advertising. But activist groups on both sides have spent heavily on attack adverts.
Groups supporting Kerry, such as MoveOn.org, have waged particularly aggressive campaigns against the Republican president.