WASHINGTON (AFP) - Senator John Edwards, the number two on the Democratic presidential ticket, was set to take center stage in the US election drama as the two presidential hopefuls hunkered down to prepare for their final debate.
Edwards, 51, was to appear on a raft of televised talk shows Sunday, a rare degree of exposure for the vice presidential hopeful, who has not played a particularly prominent role on the campaign trail since being tapped John Kerry's running mate in July.
Edwards held his own against Vice President Dick Cheney in the only vice presidential debate of the election season, on Tuesday. Polls afterwards produced a split decision, and leading US newspapers shied away from declaring either candidate the outright winner.
But Republicans took aim at Edwards as both sides strained to break out of a deadlocked race just three weeks before the November 2 vote.
The US Chamber of Commerce and the November Fund, a new political group, were to launch a new wave of Republican attack ads targeting Edwards, who worked as a trial lawyer before entering politics with a successful Senate bid in 1998.
They told Time magazine the ad campaign to debut this week would zero in on malpractice suits like those Edwards brought against the medical profession, charging him with "lawsuit abuse."
"Doctors are leaving, hospitals are closing, health care costs are skyrocketing at an alarming rate," says one direct-mail ad. "Tell Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards that it is time to support common sense lawsuit abuse reform."
Kerry and Bush stepped offstage Sunday and hit the books again in preparation for their third and final debate, on domestic issues this time around, to take place in Arizona on Wednesday.
Kerry was due to attend Sunday church services in Florida, then spend three days out of sight in the western state of New Mexico. Bush was cloistered at his Texas ranch.
Neither emerged a clear winner of a hard-fought second debate late Friday, leaving the race for the White House in a dead heat.
Both hit the campaign trail running Saturday, using tightly scheduled campaign appearances in battleground states to declare themselves the winner of the match.
Bush, speaking at campaign events in St. Louis, Missouri, and Waterloo, Iowa, renewed his attacks on Kerry's credibility, accusing the senator from Massachusetts of repeatedly changing his positions on Iraq.
"With a straight face he said he only had one position on Iraq. He must think we've been on another planet," Bush said.
"In the spring of 2003, when I ordered the invasion of Iraq, Senator Kerry said it was the right decision. Now he says it's the wrong war," Bush said, adding: "He can run, but he cannot hide."
In Elyria, Ohio, Kerry depicted Bush as angry, wrong-headed and unfit to lead and lambasted him on Iraq, his failure to find terror kingpin Osama bin Laden and his tax policies.
"Do we want leadership as it's called that can't face reality and admit mistakes or do we want leadership that sees the truth and tells the truth to the American people?" Kerry asked.
"For me, the most stunning moment of the whole evening was when George Bush was asked to name three mistakes that he has made ... and the president couldn't even name one."