Southern Tuesday's Scant Suspense
Four Southern states held primaries Tuesday but those contests received scant attention as the Bush and Kerry campaigns looked ahead to the general election.
President Bush used a Commerce Department awards ceremony to sound an upbeat message on the economy, contending that inflation and interest rates are low while the stock market, manufacturing and home ownership are up.
The president also renewed his warning against "economic isolationists" who question free-trade pacts, a veiled criticism of Kerry.
Kerry focused on his November foe as he traveled from Florida, which joined Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas in voting Tuesday, to Illinois, site of a March 16 primary.
"It must be getting lonely for George Bush," Kerry said in an appearance with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. "It seems he's the last person left in America who actually believes his failed policies will ever work."
The four-term Massachusetts senator criticized the legislation, signed by President Bush last fall, which includes the most far-reaching changes in Medicare since the creation of the giant health care program for seniors in 1965.
Beginning in 2006, the law will give beneficiaries a prescription drug benefit for the first time, with subsidies for low-income seniors to help offset premiums and other costs. The law also provides subsidies for insurance companies to offer private health care coverage to seniors as an alternative to the government-designed benefit they now receive.
Kerry immediately drew fire from House Speaker Dennis Hastert who faulted the Democrat for scaring "our greatest generation with misinformation about the voluntary and affordable" law that the Illinois Republican helped write.
Hastert also said Kerry missed 36 of 38 votes, including final passage, on Medicare legislation.
Illinois is among the states seeking to import cheaper drugs from Canada and Kerry blamed the president.
"He stubbornly insists on tax cuts as he steadily loses jobs in this country," the Democrat said. "He stubbornly refuses to allow the importation of drugs from Canada while steadily the prices are going up."
Mr. Bush's charge of economic isolationism was aimed at Kerry even though he was not mentioned by name. The president usually tries to tar Kerry as anti-trade with a remark like he gave last week in Los Angeles: "My opponent talks about job creation, too, but he's against every one of these job-creating measures. Empty talk about jobs and economic isolation won't get anyone hired."
Kerry supported the North American Free Trade Agreement and world trade deals. On the campaign trail, Kerry has said he would place all trade deals under 120-day review and wants labor and environmental standards in new pacts. He also would require companies to give notice before sending jobs overseas.
Mr. Bush has erected his own barriers to trade. In March 2002, he imposed tariffs on 10 types of foreign-made steel, then set stiff import duties on a popular type of Canadian lumber. Both actions angered major U.S. trading partners.
Mr. Bush backed down on the steel tariffs last December when the World Trade Organization ruled them illegal and Europeans threatened retaliation.
Mr. Bush made his remarks at the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Awards ceremony, named after the Reagan administration commerce secretary who died in a rodeo accident in 1987. Six companies and one school district were honored for excellence in various sectors, from manufacturing to education.
"Malcolm Baldrige served as commerce secretary in the 1980s at a time when many questioned whether America could remain the world's strongest economy — he was an optimistic guy," Mr. Bush said. "He dedicated himself to proving the skeptics wrong. That kind of confidence in the American economy's strength was justified in his day, and it is justified in our day."
The Kerry campaign responded by conferring its own award on Mr. Bush: the "Herbert Hoover Award" for presiding over the worst record on jobs of any president since the Depression.
"Since the president is handing out awards today, we wanted to give him one," said former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, Kerry's campaign chairwoman.
At stake Tuesday in four states were 465 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July in Kerry's hometown of Boston. The senator had more than 1,500 delegates, but based on the proportional allocation of the Democrats' delegate system, Kerry wasn't expected to reach the magic number of 2,162 until later this month.
Kerry was awaiting primary results in Chicago, although there was no suspense about the outcome. The senator planned to travel to Washington for meetings later this week with former rivals Howard Dean and John Edwards, brimming with confidence that they would be available to assist in his campaign.
"Dean has been very clear he wants to be part of the team, he wants to help win," Kerry said. "John Edwards has been very clear he wants to be part of the team."