TEMPE, United States (AFP) - President George W. Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry geared up for their final televised debate, hoping to break open a race for the White House virtually deadlocked three weeks before the election.
Tens of millions of viewers were expected to tune in for the candidates` third high-stakes showdown, with the increasingly bitter race too close to call and polls split on whether Bush or Kerry held a slight edge.
After two slugfests over Iraq, the 90-minute session at Arizona State University was designed to focus on domestic affairs, where the polls said Republican president was more vulnerable and the Massachusetts senator more trusted.
But the Democrats expected Bush to try to wrest the focus from the economy and social issues to his stronger suit of national security and terrorism.
Nicolle Devenish, the campaign`s communications director, gave a preview of the strategy as she parried criticisms the administration turned a 236 billion dollar budget surplus into a 415 billion dollar deficit.
Devenish blamed the fiscal turnaround on what she said was a recession inherited from the previous Democratic administration and the fallout from the devastating September 11, 2001 terror strikes.
"I think all Americans remember, and it`s very much imprinted on our minds, the way this president rallied the nation in the days and weeks after September 11," she told CNN. "But he also rallied our economy."
Bush was also set to lash out at Kerry as a leading liberal, or member of the Democratic Party`s left-wing, with a penchant for raising taxes and a 20-year Senate record pitted with inconsistencies.
"He`s been the most liberal member of the United States Senate, which means he likes to spend your money," Bush said Tuesday at a rally in Arizona.
But Kerry`s aides said their man was ready after a clear win in the first debate and at least a draw in the second that helped him erase a modest Bush advantage and claw his way back into contention.
Kerry senior adviser Joe Lockhart sharpened the pre-debate tone Wednesday by accusing the Republicans of spreading "garbage" on the Democrat`s positions and saying "the president`s arrogance here is breathtaking."
After recording record budget deficits since 2001, Bush "is probably the last person we need to be lectured by on fiscal responsibility," Lockhart said.
Asked about Republican attempts to brand Kerry a "liberal," Lockhart repeated the campaign mantra rejecting political labels but then put out one of his own: "John Kerry is a moderate Democrat."
The national deficit became a hot issue Wednesday, with The New York Times giving front-page treatment to a study of both candidates` platforms that showed they would aggravate the shortfall by 1.3 trillion dollars over a decade.
The study by the non-partisan Concord Coalition portrayed the two men reaching the same result by opposing roads.
Bush would slash taxes by more than 1.2 billion dollars and add 82 billion dollars in spending, the group said. Kerry would cut taxes by 500 billion dollars and raise spending by 771 billion, mostly on health care.
The president and his challenger both spent Wednesday boning up for the debate. Some 109 million viewers watched the first two sessions and polls suggested the faceoffs could play a key role in swinging undecided voters.
Throughout the day, surrogates from both sides were busy putting their pre-debate spin on the event and preparing the ground for their candidate as they have done all week.
Tuesday, Vice President Dick Cheney chided Kerry for his comment in the New York Times magazine that he wanted to reduce terrorism to the level of a "nuisance" so that it did not dominate American life.
"When was terrorism only a nuisance?" Cheney asked in Davenport, Iowa, reeling off a list of terror attacks on US targets between 1983 and 2000, including the first World Trade Center attack in 1993.
Kerry`s aides have accused Bush and Cheney of twisting Kerry`s remarks out of context in desperation.