WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Democrats opened a new front in their battle for the White House, attacking Vice President Dick Cheney and his old company Halliburton for alleged "cronyism" that reaped billions of dollars of business in Iraq.
The offensive came with polls split on the direction of the race. Two surveys published Thursday showed Democrat John Kerry pulling even with President George W. Bush while a third gave the Republican a healthy 13-point margin.
A statement by Kerry and a new television spot sought to make Halliburton a fresh test of Bush's credibility, management and what the Democrats call his coddling of the rich 46 days before the November 2 vote.
Kerry said Cheney, who was chief executive officer of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, received nearly two million dollars from the company since becoming vice president despite his contention he severed all financial ties.
Halliburton, an oil services firm, has won billions of dollars in contracts to feed, house and take care of troops in Iraq, but has been accused of accounting problems and overcharging.
"It is clear: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have mismanaged every aspect of the war in Iraq," Kerry said, accusing the two men of turning a blind eye to price gouging in Iraq by "their big money friends."
"We need a president and a vice president who won't sacrifice the taxpayers' money on the altar of no-bid cronyism while our fighting men and women go without the armor and equipment they need," said the Massachusetts senator.
Kerry said that as president he would reform the contracting process, reversing the trend toward no-bid deals and ensuring fair competition. He would also overhaul the accounting process to crack down on profiteers.
The new television ad shows Cheney saying "I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now for over three years," and alleges he has since received two million dollars from the company.
Bush campaign officials acknowledged Cheney established a package of deferred compensation from Halliburton in 1998 but disputed the two million dollar figure. They also said he took steps to divorce it from whether the firm made money.
Spokesman Reed Dickens called the Democratic allegations "a tired, old, recycled attack. ... "The bottom line is that the vice president has no financial stake in Halliburton so the context of their ad is completely false and hypocritical."
After revamping his staff to inject more energy and focus into his campaign, Kerry has tried to sharpen his attacks on the Republican incumbents. But while pledging to stress the economy, the Democrats have kept Iraq at the forefront.
"I think you've seen a very aggressive effort to engage the president on the war in Iraq. We engaged the president on how to fight an effective war on terror," said Joe Lockhart, ex-spokesman for Bill Clinton newly recruited as Kerry senior aide.
"You will see a lot more of that next week and every week going through the campaign," Lockhart told reporters in a telephone conference Friday.
The Republicans, meanwhile, focused on economic issues Friday, releasing a new television advertisement and a radio spot that accuses Kerry of promoting a "liberal" agenda of damaging tax hikes.
Kerry was campaigning in the western states of New Mexico and Colorado and Bush was heading toward the southern state of North Carolina in the final stretch of a marathon race clouded by contradictory poll results.
Surveys released Thursday by the Pew Research Center and Harris Interactive had Kerry wiping out a solid lead Bush forged with a month of attacks on his Democratic rival capped by the Republican national convention.
The Pew data showed the Massachusetts senator clawing his way back from a 12-point deficit among registered voters interviewed between September 8 and 10 to a 46-46 percent tie four days later.
A Harris poll of likely voters published in The Wall Street Journal had Kerry up 48-47 percent.
But a Gallup poll taken September 13-15 puts Bush ahead by 55 to 42 percent among likely voters. Gallup said it was a "significant improvement" for Bush since just before the convention he was ahead by only 50-47.
The Democrats played down the Gallup finding, suggesting the polling group may have stacked its sample with a disproportionate number of Republicans.
"We are looking at a race that is very tight both nationally and tight in the battleground states," Lockhart said. "And we are, I think, very pleased with the position we're in."