SAGINAW, United States (AFP) - President George W. Bush and his rival John Kerry blasted each other again over Iraq as they scoured midwestern swing states for late votes that could turn their photo-finish White House race.
The Democratic challenger kept up his offensive over reports of missing high-grade explosives in Iraq, while the Republican said Kerry invited further attack by bowing to political expediency in national security matters.
The candidates jockeyed to score late points on Iraq and pick up extra support in the critical Midwest with opinion polls showing them virtually deadlocked five days before Tuesday's election.
Bush traveled to Michigan, battling in a state once conceded to Kerry, and pressed his assault on the Democrat as a dangerous waffler on Iraq and defense in general.
"The senator's willingness to trade principle for political convenience makes it clear that Senator Kerry is the wrong man, for the wrong job, at the wrong time," the president told cheering supporters.
"What does that lack of conviction say to our troops, who are risking their lives in a vital cause? What does it say to our allies, who have joined us in that cause? What does that lack of conviction signal to our enemies?"
"That if you make things uncomfortable, if you stir up trouble, John Kerry will back off. And that's a very dangerous signal to send during this time."
On the defensive for nearly a week over the reported theft of 350 tonnes of Iraqi explosives, Bush tried to turn the tables, saying Kerry was "attacking the actions of our military in Iraq with complete disregard for the facts."
But Kerry, stumping in neighboring Ohio, hammered Bush on the issue for the fourth straight day, saying the Republican's buck-passing refusal to own up to responsibility made him an unfit tenant of the Oval Office.
"The president's shifting explanations and excuses and attacks on me demonstrate once again that this president believes the buck stops everywhere but with the president of the United States," the senator.
Tracking polls Thursday showed the candidates in a virtual tie nationwide ahead of Tuesday's ballot, which appeared careening toward a nerve-wracking climax with lawyers on hand to challenge every vote.
The Washington Post gave Kerry a statistically insignificant 49-48 percent lead. Zogby International had Bush on top 48-47 percent while the Rasmussen polling group put the president's edge at 49-47 percent.
The race was just as clouded on the state level, where the two sides jockeyed for a majority of the 538 electoral votes that actually decide the presidency and are awarded in separate, mostly winner-take-all, contests.
Florida and Ohio, which Bush won narrowly in 2000, and Pennsylvania, which went Democratic, were the most closely watched states. Several analysts said that whoever won two of three would likely take the presidency.
Although the outcomes were still too close to call, most polls gave Bush a modest lead in Florida, which handed him the White House four years ago after a nasty recount fight that went to the US Supreme Court.
Kerry led in Pennsylvania and appeared to be making a move in Ohio, where he was to campaign Thursday with rock icon Bruce Springsteen. Bush was to stump the state Friday with Hollywood star turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
With the race so tight, some experts said one candidate could lose the popular vote and win the majority of electors as Bush did in 2000 for the fourth time in US history.
Others came up with a more extreme scenario: a flat-footed tie in the Electoral College, 269-269, that would force the House of Representatives to pick a president for the first time since 1824.
With the Florida recount debacle fresh in their minds, both sides braced this year for a blizzard of legal challenges if the vote is close. The disappearance of tens of thousands of ballots in Florida only heightened their jitters.

10/28/2004 - 18:22 GMT - AFP