U.S. Voters: A House Divided

American voters are a house divided. According to a CBS News/New York Times poll, 75 percent of Republicans believe the United States is headed in the right direction.

By contrast, 83 percent of Democrats think the country is on the wrong track.

Both presidential campaigns turned up the heat this weekend, trying to reach the 1 in 4 voters who have not already made up their minds.

Both parties are claiming their man is the one who can get, or keep, the country on track.

However, the Democrats spent the day in Iowa on Sunday, igniting rumors that Sen. John Kerry is close to choosing his running mate, reports CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts.

As the presumptive Democratic nominee winds down his three-state, 546-mile bus tour through the rural Midwest, Kerry is now said to be within 24 to 48 hours of picking his running mate -- even though he continues to dodge the question publicly.

"I am confident that before the end of this, either myself or the vice president will come through here," said Kerry.

Kerry spent Independence Day campaigning with Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, also a possible running mate. When asked whether he had reached a decision, Kerry said: "I made a decision to get a drink and eat some lunch."

Pitts reports that Kerry's decision could come as early as Tuesday, as key Democrats have been asked to clear their calendar on those days. A staff, office space, security detail and even a campaign plane are already in place.

Kerry's choice may come down to North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Florida Sen. Bob Graham, Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. There is also still talk of a "surprise" pick.

For now, Sen. Edwards remains the frontrunner. He's campaigning hard and raising money for Kerry. Several senior members of Kerry's campaign staff are said to be his biggest advocates. And like Kerry, Edwards is coy when questioned.

Kerry has promised to name his running mate in an email to the 1 million subscribers to his campaign Web site.

Pennsylvania voted for Al Gore in the 2000 election, while Bush took Ohio and West Virginia.

The vice president got a warm welcome from the hand-picked crowd in what is traditionally a Democratic stronghold - blue collar, pro-union Pittsburgh.

Cheney also threw the first pitch at Sunday night's Harrisburg Senators-at-Altoona Curve game in Altoona, Penn.

The vice president painted the November election as a choice between the administration's rosy outlook and what he termed John Kerry's pessimism.

"On issue after issue, the choice on November 2 is very important," said Cheney. "It's a choice between President Bush's hope and optimism and Senator Kerry's pessimism."

Cheney's remarks came in a town that Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, considers home turf - he and his wife own a residence in Pittsburgh. The traditionally Democratic city hasn't elected a Republican mayor since the Depression.

In such a tight race, a brief chance to meet and greet Cheney, thought to be a reluctant campaigner, could make all the difference.

This part of the country will see plenty more of Cheney, the president, and the Democratic ticket over the next four months in a very tight race, over what is increasingly a very narrow piece of political turf.

President Bush, speaking in neighboring West Virginia, where Cheney was earlier this weekend, defended the war in Iraq on Sunday, saying America is safer because Saddam Hussein is in a prison cell.

"Our immediate task in battle fronts like Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere is to capture or kill the terrorists ... so we do not have to face them here at home," Mr. Bush told a cheering crowd outside the West Virginia Capitol. An enthusiastic audience of 5,000 people waving American flags chanted, "Four more years."

Regarding Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi president, Mr. Bush said: "Because we acted, the dictator, the brutal tyrant, is sitting in a prison cell."

Making a pitch for votes in a state where 200,000 veterans comprise 15 percent of the population, Mr. Bush praised veterans for "setting a good example for those who have followed ... in Afghanistan and Iraq." Thirty-six percent of all male West Virginians fought in World War II, 16 percent in Korea and 20 percent in Vietnam.

In his ninth visit to West Virginia since taking office, Mr. Bush also thanked National Guard members for their service in a state where 77 percent of the 6,200 National Guard troops have been activated since the Sept. 11 attacks, including every Army Guard unit except the band and an aviation detachment at in Wheeling. That ranks the state among the top five in National Guard deployments per capita.

President Bush has made 29 trips to Pennsylvania since taking office, and he plans to make his 30th visit on Friday.

"All the issues that Ralph Nader has spent his entire life working on are on the table this year," McAuliffe told CBS News' Face the Nation. "We can't afford four more years of George Bush." Democrats blame Nader's third-party candidacy in 2000 for Mr. Bush's narrow margin of victory over Al Gore.

Seeing as how Nader refuses to quit, McAuliffe said Democrats will focus on getting their message out. "And when we get our message out there, these folks are going to come and vote for John Kerry because he's right for America."

Nader said Sunday that Democrats who see his independent presidential campaign as a threat to Kerry's candidacy are really afraid of the democratic process.

"What these people are all afraid of, the Democrats, is democracy. That's what they're afraid of," Nader in a broadcast interview. "They're afraid of competition. They're afraid of the tradition of third parties in the 19th and early 20th centuries pushing the two parties to pay attention to the needs of the people, instead of their own careerism."

He also had some choice words for the Congressional Black Caucus, an all-Democratic group whose members urged Nader to drop out of the race during a testy meeting at the Capitol nearly two weeks ago.