Kerry On The Defensive

Illinois's primary on Tuesday garnered little attention as the presumptive Democratic nominee aimed for a November match-up with President Bush — and fought off White House accusations that he lied about foreign support.

As a new poll showed that general election race to be extremely close, Sen. John Kerry was heading to West Virginia on Tuesday to meet with fellow veterans and await the results of the presidential primary in Illinois.

Seventy-three delegates were at stake in Illinois.

Kerry, who has already gathered enough delegates to clinch the nomination according to a CBS News tally, received the backing of one of his two remaining Democratic challengers on Monday when Rev. Al Sharpton endorsed him. That left Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich as his only rival left in the Democratic field.

While he announced his support for Kerry, Sharpton isn't ending his own campaign. He said he hoped to continue winning delegates to help shape the party's platform.

Democrats are unifying to gear up for what appears right now to be a very close race. A CBS News/New York Times poll shows Mr. Bush leading Kerry by 46 percent to 43 percent, reversing a one-point lead for Kerry last week. The survey showed most voters had made up their mind, and many still don't know very much about Kerry.

The poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 1206 adults, interviewed by telephone March 10-14, 2004, including 984 registered voters.

Kerry's early presence in West Virginia reflects the state's newfound importance on the electoral map.

Once considered reliable territory for Democrats, state voters supported Mr. Bush over Al Gore in 2000. Kerry said the state is key to his campaign in 2004.

Kerry believes that as the home of so many military veterans, West Virginia should be alarmed at Mr. Bush's handling of Iraq.

"I equate patriotism with supporting the troops," Kerry said. "Parents are buying their own body armor and sending it to their kids over there. That's a disgrace."

"The president's coalition is not a real coalition. We are paying the cost of Iraq almost alone," he said.

West Virginia has 203,000 veterans, or 15.4 percent of the adult population of 1.8 million. The state is home to more veterans per capita than all but Alaska, Montana, Nevada and Wyoming, according to the 2000 census.

Kerry says he stands by his claim that some foreign leaders privately support him against Mr. Bush. The White House, casting doubt on the Democrat's credibility, suggested he was lying.

"I'm not making anything up at all," Kerry told The Associated Press in an interview Monday, accusing Republicans of "trying to change the subject" from jobs, health care and other issues.

In a telephone interview, the Massachusetts senator and presumptive Democratic nominee said "it's no secret" that some countries are "deeply divided about our foreign policy. We have lost respect and influence in the world."

He continued: "I stand by my statement. The point is not the leaders. What's important is that this administration's foreign policy is not making us as safe as we can be in the world."

Kerry said at a Florida fund-raiser last week that he's heard from some leaders who quietly back his candidacy and hope he is elected in November. Kerry has declined to identify them, saying to do so would betray confidences.

It was initially reported that Kerry had said "world leaders," but The Boston Globe reporter who heard the remark now believes Kerry said "more leaders." Still, Kerry has never indicated he did not mean foreign leaders.

Three times Monday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan charged that Kerry was "making it up." His reaction came one day after Secretary of State Colin Powell called on Kerry to name names, but made no accusations.

"Either he is straightforward and states who they are, or the only conclusion one can draw is that he is making it up to attack the president," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

In response, Kerry's campaign issued a list of statements by Bush administration officials it portrayed as falsehoods, including the assertions that Iraq had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and the prediction that tax cuts would create jobs.

The campaign also wondered why the White House press secretary was doing the work of the re-election campaign.

"The White House would be better off spending its time repairing our alliances around the world so we can collectively fight the war on terrorism and better protect the United States, rather than using the White House press room as a place to carry out political attacks," Kerry's campaign said.

Kerry, in the Monday interview with the AP, blamed Gore's loss in West Virginia on his failure to respond to Republican criticisms of his stance on gun control in the state, where hunting and legal firearm ownership are part of the social fabric.

Kerry said that won't happen to him. "I'm a gun owner. I've been a hunter since I was about 12 years old," he said. "My position is very clear. I support the Second Amendment."

Kerry said Mr. Bush forgot his pledge to preserve West Virginia steel jobs when he rolled back tariffs he previously had applied on foreign steel. He also said Mr. Bush has reneged on his vow to invigorate the state's coal economy by helping the industry adopt cleaner technology.

But the Bush campaign replied that Kerry had voted for environmental and trade legislation that may have hurt the coal and steel industries.