Kerry & Bush: Steel Vs. Science

Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry said Monday the White House should not have scrapped steep tariffs on foreign-made steel last year — but would not put them back in place if he is elected.

A spokesman for President Bush's re-election campaign said Kerry's comments highlight his ever-changing position on the controversial trade issue.

Kerry was in the battleground state of Ohio on Tuesday, hoping to draw supporters to a rally in Cincinnati. The Massachusetts senator was scheduled to focus on the economy and his plan that he says will create 10 million new jobs in America.

The tariffs, imposed in March 2002 to shield beleaguered U.S. steel producers from foreign competition, were declared illegal last summer by the World Trade Organization. The White House pulled down the tariffs in December, halfway through their three-year program, under threat of $2.2 billion in retaliatory sanctions from the European Union.

Kerry, speaking to about 17 reporters from political battleground states on both sides of the matter, said he supported the tariffs because "under the circumstances, it was an important grabbing-air moment."

"I wouldn't re-impose them, but I would have let them play out the way they were promised," he said. "Once you put them in place, people have expectations. … And if you, all of a sudden, upset that, you're really wreaking havoc in the market."

Bush-Cheney spokesman Kevin Madden said Kerry's "position on steel tariffs is that he doesn't have a position."

Kerry's alleged inconsistency is a frequent target of Republicans. So is his Senate voting record, at which Vice President Dick Cheney again aimed at a Monday night fundraiser for a Louisiana Senate candidate.

Cheney accused Kerry of voting against vital military spending and favoring tax increases.

Cheney also defended his administration's strategy against terrorists and the regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, saying: "These are not issues for leaders who shift with the political winds, saying one thing one day, and another the next."

Amid rioting in Iraq in recent days, Mr. Bush faces increasing criticism from Democrats. On Monday, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., declared that Iraq has become "George Bush's Vietnam." The Bush campaign dismissed Kennedy as a "hatchet man" for Kerry.

Kerry also has criticized the president on Iraq, suggesting Mr. Bush is playing politics by stubbornly adhering to the June 30 date for turning over political control to the Iraqis.

"You should not have a date that has anything whatsoever to do with the election in the United States of America," Kerry said Monday.

Visiting North Carolina on Monday, Mr. Bush said the Iraq deadline would not shift.

"The intention is to make sure the deadline remains the same. I believe we can transfer authority by June 30th," the president said. He added that the United Nations was in Iraq working on "to whom we transfer sovereignty."

Mr. Bush on Monday announced a new initiative meant to outflank Kerry on job creation. He proposed to double the number of people receiving federal job-training assistance to 412,000 a year, from 206,000. The program would fall under $250 million in spending Mr. Bush proposed earlier this year.

On Tuesday, Mr. Bush was visiting Arkansas to focus on another element of his agenda to prepare the work force. He will emphasize rigorous math and science programs in high schools and community colleges, an administration official said.

Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, credited Mr. Bush's economic policies with generating more than 300,000 jobs last month and said the president's war on terrorism has made the country safer.

Appearing at his final campaign fund-raising appearance Monday night, the president expressed gratitude to donors who helped him raise the more than $182 million dollars he will spend against Kerry. The event raised more than $1.5 million. The effort to raise money for the Bush campaign will continue with other officials carrying the banner.

Mr. Bush has benefited from a campaign finance law he signed two years ago that doubled the maximum individual donation to $2,000. He also has benefited from incumbency, traveling to fund-raisers largely at taxpayer expense.

Meanwhile, Ralph Nader failed to qualify for Oregon's presidential ballot when fewer than 1,000 people showed up at a Monday night gathering to sign their names to petitions, but aides to the independent presidential candidate said he would try again.

A total of 741 people came to a Portland theater to sign the petitions — 259 fewer than those the veteran consumer advocate needed to qualify for the Oregon ballot, said state elections director John Lindback.

"Even the best basketball player doesn't get a slam-dunk every time," Nader told the crowd Monday, acknowledging the numbers fell short.

The low turnout is a blow for Nader, who has been counting on using his traditional strong showing in the liberal northwestern state to make it the first state to put him on the 2004 ballot.