CLEVELAND, Ohio, Nov 1 (AFP) - Democratic hopeful John Kerry promised to shelter America from terror and to shoulder its dreams, as he chased every last vote in hard-fought states that will frame his destiny in Tuesday's election.
Kerry started the day in the beating sun of Florida, dodged a chill smearing rain in frigid Wisconsin and stoked up 50,000 supporters on the southern shores of Lake Erie which divides the United States from Canada.
"I will make America safer than George Bush has," Kerry promised in downtown Cleveland, in the last mass rally of his campaign, to a crowd fired up by rock icon Bruce Springsteen, author of the veteran senator's anthem "No Surrender."
Kerry blasted Bush over his stewardship of occupied Iraq, and savaged his leadership in the battle against terrorism, encapsulating two of the major themes of the gruelling and toxic election campaign.
But he also appealed the aspirations of the middle classes, which in swing states Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan, three stops on Kerry's cross-country dash on Monday, have been stifled by job losses and rising health costs.
"For the last two years, I got this incredible privilege of travelling across a great nation, and I have seen the heart and hopes of the American people," Kerry said in Detroit, Michigan, where he was introduced by Motown legend, Stevie Wonder.
"I am moved beyond words with the courage of average folks who get up in the most difficult circumstances and take care of their kids and get to work," said Kerry who was dismissed as aloof and starchy early in his campaign, but who has loosened up as the electoral clock ticked down.
"I know your hopes because you have asked me to carry them."
On the eve of the still too close-to-call election, Kerry was buoyed by Gallup poll showing a sharp Bush's lead on his supposed strong suits, Iraq and terrorism.
"I believe we deserve a president who knows how to fight a more effective war on terror and make America safe," Kerry told a small crowd gathered for an early morning rally on the tarmac of the Orlando, Florida airport.
"This is the choice, this is the moment of accountability for America, and it is the moment that the world is watching you," Kerry told cheering supporters, who chanted "one more day, one more day."
When Kerry arrived for the second rally of the day, his airplane passed the Air Force One jet of Bush, also stumping for undecided voters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Bush had just conducted an indoor rally a mile from Kerry's event, and was dashing back to his plane to carry on with his hectic day.
Kerry was due to move on from Cleveland, to an airport rally in Toledo, Ohio, before wrapping up a 20-hour day back in Wisconsin in the early hours of election day.
His strategy was to hit as many local media markets as possible, dropping soundbites on regional news programmes and front-page pictures on local newspapers that could sway any remaining undecided voters.
Latest opinion surveys show the election going down to the wire, with four polls calling the contest a dead heat and six others giving Bush a statistically insignificant lead of one to three points. The percentage of undecided voters varied from two to eight points.
Springsteen, who has spearheaded a "Vote for Change" coalition of top recording artists aimed at ousting Bush, drew 150,000 fans to three gigs with the Democratic challenger in the past week.
"Nobody has got the answers to all the problems," said Springsteen, who has now played at gigs for Kerry in the last week which have drawn a total of 200,000 people.
"When John Kerry wins tommorow, it is just the beginning of the work we need to do."

11/02/2004 03:51 GMT - AFP