Backyard Battleground

Not long ago, the conventional wisdom proclaimed that George W. Bush could count on the state where his brother is governor, while Al Gore need not worry about his home state.

But on Wednesday, Bush stumped in Florida and Gore campaigned in Tennessee.

These are the latest signs that this closely fought race has pushed both the vice president and the Texas governor to the brink, even in their political backyards.

Bush was on a bus tour of the Sunshine State accompanied by his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and his GOP primary rival, Sen. John McCain.

"The team that's got the best grass-roots operation is the one that is going to win," Bush told thousands of cheering supporters crowded into a field house at Seminole Community College in Daytona Beach.

Although Bush once led in the state comfortably, the latest CBS News/New York Times poll gives Gore a slight lead.

"It's time we have someone who inspires us in the White House. We have not had that in seven years," said Jeb Bush of his older brother. "I told my brother we're going to carry Florida for him."

McCain complained that the Democrats were hitting below the belt on Bush's Social Security plan.

"Every four years it happens ... scare the seniors about Social Security," said the Arizona senator. "Don't let them scare the seniors in Florida."

Candidate Bush said he would keep the retirement program's promise to seniors while Gore's plan "doesn't save Social Security ... it delays the pain."

Bush has visited Florida 15 times since Super Tuesday in February, and has been spending about $1 million a week on ads there. His total ad spending in the state through Oct. 8 is over $8.3 million, compared to Gore's $3.9 million. Gore has made eight trips to Florida since Labor Day.

Meanwhile, the entire Democratic ticket - two candidates, two wives - swept across Tennessee, the state Gore must fight to keep from losing for the first time in his career.

"I would like to see a show of hands from everyone who is related to me in this crowd," the Democratic presidential nominee called out to a rally in his grandmother's western Tennessee hometown of Jackson.

To the dozens who shot up their hands laughing, Gore pointed and drawled, "How ya doin' cousin? I got ya covered."

Earlier, in Nashville, and again to a nighttime crowd of several thousand in Kansas City, he served up more of the tough talk against Bush that appears to have pulled him back into a dead heat race in recent days as national polls tick up and down.

The vice president dissected Bush's education agenda point by point and scoffed that it added up to "nice-sounding rhetoric and a few half measures."

Gore also debuted a line meant to blunt the GOP assault on Gore's character and truthfulness.

"I have kept the faith for my country," Gore shouted hoarsely in Kansas City. " have taken the oath of office to the constitution nine times and I have never violated that oath."

While Tipper Gore and Hadassah Lieberman covered separate Tennessee ground, Gore stumped with vice presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman.

Lieberman acknowledged on CNN that the foursome's two-day swing through Gore's homestate was extraordinary this late in the race, but no more a trouble sign than Bush having to campaign in Florida.

"We're each in places we thought maybe we wouldn't be in at this time," Lieberman said. "That's a big message to voters come out and vote."

Two recent polls put Bush and Gore dead even in Tennessee, where Gore's winning streak is yet unbroken. Between 1976 and 1990, Gore, who still owns a farm in Carthage, claimed four House terms and two Senate terms from Tennessee with never less than 64 percent of the vote.