Final campaign blitz underway

Campaign heats up in Florida, Ohio, other battleground states

With only five days left before the general election, the campaign marathons are entering the final home stretch. CNN reports:

Kerry used a Bush campaign line, telling the crowd that the president had jumped to conclusions about Saddam Hussein's connection to the September 11, 2001, attacks and about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"I'm going to apply the Bush standard to this: Yesterday ... George Bush said and I quote him: 'A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your commander in chief when it comes to your security.' Well Mr. President, I agree with you."

And the NY Times reports on the frenzied interest in this election in Florida:

"When I came here this morning, I felt like beginning by saying, 'Now where were we again?' " Al Gore, who saw his hopes for the presidency dashed here in 2000, said wryly at a rally in Coconut Creek in Broward County the other afternoon. "Four years seems like four hours because we are in the same struggle for our country's future."

Bill Clinton, casting an eye on a crowd that filled a city block in Miami the next night, said: "Remember: we won this state the last two times; the last time they didn't count it. We can win it again."

Mr. Clinton's huge audience responded with outstretched hands and cheers. And the intensity of feeling is red hot on both sides of the political divide.

"Bush is a liar," Gene Conrad, a 65-year-old teacher from Jupiter, said after hearing Mr. Kerry deliver a speech on religion the other day. "He lied us into war. And I cannot vote for anyone who is dumber than I am."

The BBC also has an excellent article on where the candidates stand on the issues. Visit NPI's Elections Center for endorsements, debate transcripts, and more election coverage.