Taxes, Debates Top Campaign Agenda

President Bush said Thursday that, with Election Day some 10 weeks away, rival John Kerry likely will propose new costly federal programs that would lead to tax increases on the middle-class.

"You know how tempting it is to get out in front of the people and make promise after promise," the president told several thousand supporters on the campus of New Mexico State University. "If he gets elected, he's going to tax you, but the good news is we're not going to let him get elected."

Kerry, meanwhile, challenged Mr. Bush to weekly debates from now until Nov. 2 on campaign issues like education, health care and national security.

"America deserves a discussion like we're having here today, which I'm prepared to have with this president every single week from now until the election," the Democratic presidential candidate said during a campaign stop in Minnesota.

Flying to New Mexico after a week at his Texas ranch, Mr. Bush said Kerry has already proposed $2.2 trillion worth of new promises "and we're just getting started."

Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer responded later: "George Bush seems to have a problem being straight with the American people. John Kerry has been very clear about the fact that he will cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans. George Bush continues to avoid talking about the fact that his tax cuts have placed an increasingly larger portion of the tax burden onto the middle class."

Mr. Bush's return to the campaign trail came amid the uproar over ads by an outside group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, attacking Kerry's war record by alleging he lied to get his medals. Aboard Air Force One heading for New Mexico, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president wants to work with Republican Sen. John McCain to pursue court action against all the political attack ads by outside groups.

Mr. Bush has denounced all the ads, but refuses to specifically condemn the attacks on Kerry.

In New Mexico, Mr. Bush resumed his criticism of Kerry's record on the war in Iraq, saying the Democrat had repeatedly changed positions, an assertion seconded by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who campaigned with Mr. Bush.

Giuliani attacked Kerry as a candidate who says something one day and something else the next and praised Mr. Bush for guiding the nation "through some of its most difficult days, some of our worst times."

Kerry issued his debate challenge while speaking about health care at Anoka Technical College in Minnesota, fielding questions from a group of more than 200 people, some of them self-described undecided voters.

The Bush-Cheney campaign rebuffed the offer to debate.

"There will be a time for debates after the convention, and during the next few weeks, John Kerry should take the time to finish the debates with himself," responded Bush-Cheney spokesman Steve Schmidt.

The Commission on Presidential Debates has scheduled three presidential debates to be held on college campuses in the battleground states of Florida, Missouri and Arizona in late September and October.

Kerry used the health care forum to highlight new figures released by the Census Bureau, which showed the ranks of the poor and uninsured grew last year, the third straight annual increase for both categories.

"Today confirms the failure of President Bush's policies for all Americans. While George Bush tries to convince America's families that were turning the corner, slogans and empty rhetoric can't hide the real story," Kerry said.

Kerry also defended himself from Republican charges that he wavers in his convictions on major issues.

"It's standard Republican playbook," Kerry said in response to a voter's question. "They just say it, and if you spend enough money and say it enough, people like you are going to ask the question."