WATERLOO, United States (AFP) - President George W. Bush and his challenger John Kerry traded shots on the Iraq war and terrorism as their heated race for the White House lurched toward an increasingly bitter finish.
With 13 days to go before the November 2 ballot, polls showed the two candidates running even nationally but Kerry edging up in several critical state contests that could decide the presidency.
Both men chased votes Wednesday in the key midwestern state of Iowa, where Kerry accused Bush of a dangerous display of "contempt" for US allies and the president again branded his Democratic rival as unfit for command.
Although the Democrats had hoped to focus on the economy, where the Republican was most vulnerable, Kerry virtually acknowledged Wednesday the election would be played out largely on Bush's preferred turf of post-September 11 defense.
"He wants to make it solely a contest on national security. Well, I welcome that debate," Kerry told a rally here. "I believe a president must be able to defend this country and fight for the middle class at the same time."
The Massachusetts senator accused Bush of major "misjudgments by stubbornness" and called the war in Iraq a "profound diversion" from the real enemy, Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda terrorist network behind the September 11, 2001 attacks.
He said, however, that Iraq had become a terrorist haven that must be cleaned up with the world's help but Bush had left US forces islolated by showing "disdain" for potential allies.
"By treating other countries with contempt, President Bush gave them an excuse to stay on the sidelines instead of shouldering their responsibilities," he said.
"The president's failures in Iraq have made us weaker, not stronger, in the war on terrorism. That is the hard truth. The president refuses to acknowledge it but terrorism experts around the world do."
Bush, campaigning nearby Mason City, Iowa, seized on Kerry's comments in a New York Times interview earlier this month that the September 11 strikes "didn't change me much at all."
"The next commander in chief must lead us to victory in this war, and you cannot win a war when you don't believe you're fighting one," Bush told cheering supporters.
He said Kerry's "unchanged world view becomes obvious when he calls the war against terror primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation, rather than what I believe: A war which requires the full use of American power."
"You cannot lead our nation to decisive victory on which the security of every American family depends if you do not see the true dangers of a post-September the 11th world," the president said.
Polls have sent mixed signals whether the economy or terrorism ranked uppermost in voters' minds as they go in next month's election that is shaping up every bit as tight as the 2000 nail-biter.
But both men have upped the rhetorical ante on security, basically staking their candidacies on who can best keep the country safe while accusing each other of practicing "the politics of fear."
Most surveys showed Bush and Kerry deadlocked nationally, but the Democrat seemed to be running strong in the race for the decisive electoral votes that are apportioned among the states and won in separate contests.
With the electoral map just as evenly divided as it was in 2000, when Bush lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore but won the presidency by 271 to 266 electoral votes, the outcome could hinge on a few swing states.
Polls showed Kerry pulling even in two critical states for Bush, the midwestern state of Ohio and the southeastern state of Florida, which was pivotal four years ago and decided only after a hotly disputed recount.
Kerry also looked well positioned to snatch another state from Bush's column as he quietly opened up a modest lead in the northeastern state of New Hampshire.