WASHINGTON - Striving to make up ground he has recently lost to Vice-President Al Gore, George W. Bush has set off on a six-day, nine-state tour designed to rebut three persistent criticisms of his campaign: that he is weak on issues, insufficiently focused on women voters and taking a leisurely approach to campaigning.
His route, from Arkansas through Illinois and Pennsylvania to Florida, takes him through "battleground" states that were until recently seen as his but now seem to be inclining towards Gore.
This week, Bush will also campaign on Sunday - he usually takes the whole weekend off.
But the most telling adjustment he is making is his decision to challenge Gore for the middle-class vote. The theme of this week is a Blueprint for the Middle Class, addressing such concerns as healthcare costs, pensions, income tax and the family.
In the US, middle class means middle income, with household income of between $US30,000 ($72,400) and $US60,000, and while this allows for an acceptable standard of living, it leaves little to spare.
When Gore shifted his campaign sharply - and unexpectedly - leftward at the Democratic Party convention last month, it was partly in recognition that at least some of the middle-class votes could be his for the asking.
While middle-income people are traditionally more likely to vote Republican - because they associate Government with inefficiency and handouts to those less deserving than themselves - there is a chance this year that they could find more to please them in Gore's programme.
The United States may be experiencing an economic boom, but the benefits have accrued far more to those already well off: those in the middle and lower-income groups have generally sustained their earning power, if at all, by working more hours.
If they have a stake in the sharemarket, it is not enough to feel much better off. At the same time, costs have risen for petrol, healthcare and especially medicines, while health insurance benefits and community services have declined.
Gore's assurances on prescription costs, insurance safeguards and tax-funded services have struck a chord with this group in a way that Bush's pledge of across-the-board tax cuts have not, at least as yet.
So have Gore's pledges to "fight for you" against "big oil" and big corporations generally.
And while Gore's nomination of the devout Joe Lieberman as his running mate has enhanced his appeal to the large number of middle-class parents concerned about values, Bush's nomination of Dick Cheney - like Bush, an oil industry millionaire - threatens to foster lower-income resentment.
When the Gore campaign first moved to the left, the switch was scorned by the Bush campaign as a revival of class warfare and quasi-socialist populism that would never catch on with the voters.
Even some Democrats regarded the attention to the middle class as unwise for a candidate seeking to build on the economic success of "New Democrat" Bill Clinton.
Gore's surge in the polls and Bush's new focus on the same group of voters are sure signs that the criticism was misplaced.
- INDEPENDENT
Bush hones in on women
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