WASHINGTON (AFP) - Osama bin Laden loomed large over the final whirlwind of the US presidential race as the two contenders sparred over how best to defeat the Al-Qaeda leader after he threatened new attacks in a videotape the day before.
Both candidates accused the other of playing politics with the war on terror following the airing by the Al-Jazeera television network of a videotape from the mastermind behind September 11, 2001 strikes on New York and Washington that left some 3,000 people dead.
The tape, and its uncertain impact on Tuesday's election, set both sides scrambling as they rushed through gruelling campaign schedules in the final weekend of the election.
Both President George W. Bush and rival John Kerry gave tough responses to bin Laden's bombshell appearance, but an attempt at unity in the face of the common enemy quickly imploded.
The Kerry camp, which had planned a more uplifting message following a week spent lashing the president on missing explosives in Iraq, was under pressure to mount a counter attack, after the Democrat's initial response to bin Laden's tape sparked a firestorm from the Bush campaign.
Not quite two hours after reaching out to Kerry in his first public remarks on the message, Bush said the Democrat's charge that bad strategy let bin Laden escape US forces in late 2001 was "especially shameful."
"Unfortunately my opponent tonight continued to say things he knows are not true, accusing our military of passing up a chance to get Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora," an Afghan stronghold, in 2001, the Republican president told cheering supporters in Ohio late Friday.
"It's simply not the case," Bush said. "It is especially shameful in the light of a new tape from America's enemy."
In a television interview that marked the first response to the tape from either candidate, Kerry earlier vowed to hunt down and kill terrorists, and said America was united in that desire.
Then, repeating a motif from his stump speeches, he said: "I regret that when George Bush had the opportunity in Afghanistan at Tora Bora, he didn't use our forces to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden. He outsourced to the war lords."
Bush aides argued that the line was inappropriate in light of the bin Laden tape.
White House communications director Dan Bartlett said Kerry should have frozen his criticisms for 12 hours.
"You would think that there would be a, maybe, 12 hours to let the Americans absorb what has just happened today," he said, speaking to reporters in Ohio.
Kerry steered clear of the accusation in a rally in Miami late Friday, vowing only to make America safer than Bush had, after delivering a terse statement in front of his campaign jet on the tarmac of a Florida airport.
"In response to this tape of Osama bin Laden, let me just make it clear, crystal clear, as Americans we are united in our determination to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden and the terrorists," Kerry said.
"They are barbarians, I will stop at absolutely nothing to hunt down, capture or kill the terrorists wherever they are, whatever it takes," he said.
Kerry was to rally voters in Appleton, Wisconsin early Saturday, then continue to campaign stops in Iowa and Ohio. Teresa Heinz Kerry was due to appear with former president Bill Clinton in southwestern New Mexico state.
Bush was scheduled to campaign Saturday in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Florida, all critical up-for-grabs states.
Aides said the bin Laden tape would not lead to a let-up in Bush's criticisms of Kerry as fickle on national security issues and unfit to lead the war on terrorism.
Earlier, Bush had insisted that the tape -- in which bin Laden threatens more attacks and mocks the president who once vowed to catch him "dead or alive -- would not affect the election.
"Let me make this very clear. Americans will not be intimidated or influenced by an enemy of our country," Bush said in a hastily arranged statement on an airport tarmac in Toledo, Ohio.
"I'm sure Senator Kerry agrees with this," he added. "I also want to say to the American people that we are at war with these terrorists, and I am confident that we will prevail."
US television news channels broke into their programs to show the Al-Qaeda leader's ominous message to the American people. US intelligence officials and the White House said the tape appeared authentic.
"Despite the fact that we are into the fourth year after September 11, Bush is still misleading you and hiding the real reason from you, which means that the reasons to repeat what happened remain," bin Laden said.
He also warned it made no difference who wins Tuesday's elections.
"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry, Bush or Al-Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands. Any state which does not play havoc with our security would automatically ensure its own security," he said.
10/30/2004 - 10:31 GMT - AFP