US election diary: 5 days to go

Not amused

Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, daughter of slain President John F. Kennedy, urged Republican George W. Bush not to invoke her father's name in his campaigning against Democratic rival Senator John Kerry. "It's hard for me to listen to President Bush invoking my father's memory to attack John Kerry." In Wisconsin on Wednesday, Bush said: "The party of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman and John Kennedy is rightly remembered for confidence and resolve in times of crisis. Senator Kerry has turned his back on 'pay any price' and 'bear any burden', and he has replaced those commitments with 'wait and see' and 'cut and run'."

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Bush victory a good bet

The bookies are backing Bush. Internet bookmaker Interops.com yesterday had Bush at $1.62 to Kerry's $2.20, Centrebet in Australia had Bush at $1.60 to Kerry's $2.20 and William Hill in Britain had Bush favourite at $1.57 to Kerry's $2.25.

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Congress race gets dirty

The race in Colorado's newest congressional district has turned ugly on the home straight, with swastikas scrawled on the signs of Republican Bob Beauprez and deer entrails left on the doorstep of a Democrat. "We took it to mean he was dead meat," a spokeswoman for Democrat Dave Thomas said. Thomas, a local district attorney, has also been the target of ads criticising his involvement in the investigation of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. And some of Beauprez's campaign volunteers have found glass and nails left under their car tyres.

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Heinz Kerry rejects rules

Under the unwritten rules of US election politics, candidates and campaigns never publicly doubt they will win. Not so with Teresa Heinz Kerry, who to her detractors' delight and her supporters' chagrin keeps breaking the rules. "If John gets there," she said at a recent campaign event for her husband. She was interrupted by shouts of "When! When!" But Heinz Kerry said: "You can say 'when'. I'm going to say 'if'. I'm superstitious." Whether telling a reporter to "shove it" or wearing clothes that photograph poorly, Heinz Kerry has proven a lightning rod in the presidential race. Polls show she trails in popularity behind first lady Laura Bush. One survey showed 73 per cent had a favourable opinion of Laura Bush, but just 38 per cent had such a view of Heinz Kerry.

- AGENCIES