MIAMI (AFP) - President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry dig in for the crucial one-on-one televised debate, with the Democratic challenger aiming to turn the tables on Bush`s lead in recent in opinion polls.
Bush enjoys a modest lead in most polls of five to eight points heading into the first of three faceoffs expected to draw tens of millions of viewers -- many of them undecided on their vote on November 2.
Kerry, who has a history of firing up stalling campaigns in their final weeks, promised the truth would come calling for Bush, once the two men stepped into the spotlight at 9:00pm Thursday (0100 GMT Friday) at the University of Miami.
He tried to get his retaliation in first -- defending his position on Iraq, before leaving the Wisconsin retreat where he sharpened his knives for Thursday`s session on foreign policy and national security.
Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney had presided over a disinformation campaign to "hide their failures" 34 days before the election, he told supporters in an open letter.
"But you and I know better. We know that the truth is catching up with them," Kerry said.
Kerry, a four-term senator from Massachusetts, voted in October 2002 to give Bush the green light to go to war against Iraq, but has since argued the president rushed into the conflict, without a plan to win the peace.
His vice-presidential running mate, John Edwards, lit into Bush ahead of the debate, during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania.
"It`s a test for whether this President is finally going to be straight and come clean with the American people over what is happening in Iraq," Edwards said.
The president, using official duties to political advantage in a battleground state, toured Florida orange groves pummelled in three hurricanes since August which killed 100 people and wreaked billions of dollars in damage.
Bush snatched a disputed victory in Florida four years ago, and the state, with a tenth of the 270 electoral voters needed to win the presidency, is again a must-win for both men.
While the president dispensed sympathy, his aides turned up the heat on Kerry, in the latest attacks of a bile-filled campaign, skewering the veteran senator on Iraq.
"He changed again," said Bush communications adviser Karen Hughes, refering to an interview given by Kerry to ABC television.
"He now says, six weeks after saying I would have voted the same way, he now says no, he wouldn`t."
Bush meanwhile, aware that many Americans like to feel a personal connection with the man they vote for, polished his image on the daytime television show of advice guru "Dr Phil."
He came across as a doting father and husband, in an interview filmed along with his wife, Laura, at their Texas ranch in July.
The show is due to air a Kerry interview next week, as both presidential challengers woo crucial women voters who form "Dr. Phil`s" devoted following.
In Minnesota, Cheney said Kerry`s inconsistencies disqualified him for leadership: "What I see is a man who has ... taken so many positions that there isn`t anything he could say today that doesn`t contradict something he`s already said."
Cheney`s wife, Lynne, took another dig at Kerry, mocking his suntan, which television comedians have lampooned, to the delight of Republicans keen to paint Kerry as rich and out of touch.
Thursday`s debate matches Kerry, an eloquent but somtimes rambling speaker against Bush, often lampooned for his mangled syntax.
Bush aides tried to portray their man as the underdog, even though he can deploy the symbolic might of the US presidency, and has, according to his Democrat foes, never lost a public debate.
"The expectations game is always a part of the debate process. I think most Americans know that the president occasionally mangles the English language, mispronounces a few words here and there, and has not spent a lifetime practicing debating, which is what Senator Kerry has done," Hughes said.
"He`s spent his entire life preparing for this moment, starting in prep school and during 20 years in the Senate. I think most Americans know that, but I think they also have the sense that at the end of the debate they will know where George Bush stands and that may not be the case with Senator Kerry."
Democrats counter that Bush is narrow-minded and inflexible, and in a new advertisement Wednesday charged : "No one can tell him he`s wrong," over job losses, Iraq and the economy.
Thursday`s debate will be moderated by PBS anchor Jim Lehrer, 70, a Kansas native who has leant an air of sobriety and balance to nine presidential debates in the last four presidential election campaigns.
The Washinton Post on Thursday suggests that, beyond Iraq, the presidential debate focus on the war on terrorism. USA Today would like some attention given to the other members of the "axis of evil" -- Iran and North Korea, as well as the Middle East and China.
The Wall Street Journal, instead issued a "little crib sheet" of facts Kerry should remember when speaking about Iraq: Iraqis share half of the casualties in the war, US allies are still reluctant to contribute troops, and the financial burden of the war is not 90 percent on US shoulders since other nations have pledged 13 billion dollars and promised to forgive 80 billion dollars in Iraqi debt.
Kerry and Bush will have a second, "town hall," debate on October 8 in the Midwestern city of St. Louis, Missouri, and finish with a session on domestic policy October 13 in the western city of Tempe, Arizona.
Vice President Dick Cheney and Kerry`s Democratic running mate, John Edwards, will hold a single debate on all questions October 5 in the Midwestern city of Cleveland, Ohio.