Losers face knockout punch

WASHINGTON - The Democratic presidential contenders made a final push for votes yesterday, a day before contests in seven states that frontrunner John Kerry hopes will give him a huge boost toward the nomination and knock some rivals out of the race.

Seven states vote today - Missouri, South Carolina, Delaware, Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota and Oklahoma - on the biggest day so far in the Democratic race to find a challenger to President George W Bush. A total of 269 delegates to the party nomination convention were at stake.

The vote comes as latest polls show Bush's popularity tumbled below 50 per cent, with dissatisfaction mounting sharply over his handling of the Iraq war, foreign affairs and the economy.

The poll published by USA Today, CNN and the Gallup organisation showed Kerry opening up a seven-point lead over the Republican Bush in a head-to-head matchup.

The poll was conducted from January 29 to February 1, right after the chief US arms inspector resigned and said he found no trace of the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that Bush used to justify last year's invasion.

The president's popularity was also down from the 70 per cent approval registered just after the fall of Baghdad in April.

Kerry, the senator from Massachusetts who was under attack from rival Howard Dean for taking campaign donations from special interests, ignored his Democratic opponents and directed his criticism at Bush during a morning rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"When you vote tomorrow I ask you to go there not to just send America a message, but to send America a President of the United States," Kerry said at a rally where he was joined by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who has endorsed him, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

Kerry also picked up endorsements from two smaller labour unions, the 100,000-member retail workers and 150,000-member treasury employees, as he continued the roll he started last month with back-to-back wins in Iowa and New Hampshire.

A new Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll shows him taking commanding leads in the two biggest states voting today - Missouri and Arizona - but trailing John Edwards in South Carolina and retired General Wesley Clark in Oklahoma by small margins.

Edwards, a North Carolina senator, campaigned in South Carolina and predicted he would win the state where he was born and where by his own admission he needs a victory to stay in the race.

"I will be back here as your president to have one heck of a celebration," Edwards told students at the College of Charleston.

Edwards told reporters later that his chief difference with Kerry was that he did not accept money from lobbyists.

A non-partisan study released at the weekend found Kerry had taken more special interest lobbying money than any other senator in the last 15 years, prompting a storm of criticism from Dean, the former Vermont governor, over Kerry's "hypocrisy" in campaigning as a crusader against special interests.

"If we want real change in Washington, we need someone who hasn't been there for 20 years," said Edwards, who is in his first Senate term. Kerry has served 19 years in the Senate.

Edwards was travelling later to campaign in Seneca, the mill town where he was born.

Dean was in New Mexico ahead of an evening forum on Hispanic and Native American issues in Phoenix that will also be attended by Kerry, Clark, Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman and Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich.

Dean, the one-time frontrunner who is trying to resurrect his faltering campaign, is largely looking past today's contests to concentrate on caucuses in Michigan and Washington state on Saturday and the February 17 primary in Wisconsin.

He will meet this week for a strategy session with leaders from two of the biggest labour unions that endorsed him last year when his campaign was flying high.

Senior Dean adviser Gina Glantz said the session would probably take place when Dean will be in Michigan, a state where organised labour is likely to be a factor.

Dean's backers are worried that failure to post a win today and his dwindling bank account could doom his chances.

- REUTERS, AGENCIES