Bush defends record, protesters hit New York streets

By JOHN WHITESIDES Political Correspondent

NEW YORK - President Bush, on the road to next week's Republican convention, defended his economic record in hard-hit Ohio on Saturday as abortion-rights activists marched through New York City on the leading edge of a wave of anti-Bush protests.

Thousands of Republicans poured into New York for Monday's opening of the four-day convention, and police closed streets and tightened security throughout the heavily fortified city as demonstrators stepped up their pace.

Bush, on a week-long tour of key battleground states before he arrives in New York on Wednesday, told about 20,000 cheering supporters in Ohio that his economic policies were working.

"When it comes to expanding our economy, defeating the recession, we're getting the job done," Bush said in Troy, Ohio, during a bus tour of a state hit hard by job losses in the manufacturing sector.

Bush touted the big tax cuts he pushed through during the first term of his administration, although he acknowledged Ohio was "lagging behind the national economy."

He called for the use of tax-free savings accounts to help pay for major health care costs and revamped overtime rules that let workers earn time off rather than pay.

His Democratic challenger, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, attacked Bush's economic record during a rally in Tacoma, Washington, and said the country could not afford another four years of lost jobs, slow growth and creeping poverty.

"The American worker is sliding further and further behind," he told supporters gathered in a stadium parking lot. "We need a president who stands up for the middle class."

Bush's turn in the campaign spotlight next week will give him a stage to tout his first-term record and lay out ideas for another four years while drawing sharp differences with Kerry.

Polls show Bush and Kerry locked in a tight race heading into the convention, which will be capped by Bush's prime-time acceptance speech on Thursday night.

Aides said Bush's speech will include new domestic policy proposals, including possibly a renewed call for adding private accounts to the Social Security retirement program or broad tax reform.

'OUTLINE FOR FUTURE'

Bush's challenge in the speech will be different than the one Kerry faced at the Democratic gathering last month. While Kerry had to introduce himself to the American public, the already well-known Bush must try to convince them to rehire him for a second term.

"This is a speech where he will outline for America how he sees the future and the hope that will come because of the president's policies," White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told reporters during Bush's bus tour.

"I think it's going to be a very important speech, but I would not say that everything is resting on his speech. The convention will contribute to the momentum that has been building for the last several weeks," he said.

In New York, thousands of demonstrators walked shoulder-to-shoulder across the Brooklyn Bridge chanting "My Body, My Choice" to express support for a woman's right to an abortion -- a prelude to a march on Sunday by as many as 250,000 anti-Bush demonstrators.

At least two people were arrested at a protest outside a Starbucks coffee shop near the Madison Square Garden convention site. Police also arrested two men on suspicion of plotting to bomb a subway station and other targets in a case they said was unconnected to the convention or al Qaeda.

Police have closed the streets around Madison Square Garden, hindering Manhattan traffic and further antagonising heavily Democratic New Yorkers.

Bush and Republicans plan to highlight the party's more moderate and open face during the convention, featuring a series of middle-of-the-road speakers who they hope will help appeal to undecided swing voters.

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will have prime-time speaking roles, while most of the party's more conservative figures will be shunted off center stage.

Kerry will travel to Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Saturday night and stay there most of the week, ceding the spotlight to Bush. He will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, to speak to the American Legion's national convention on Wednesday.

- REUTERS