APPLETON, Wisconsin (Reuters) --
Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry declared solidarity Saturday with President Bush against Osama bin Laden, but criticized his Republican rival's strategy for capturing the al Qaeda leader.
Three days before the election, the Massachusetts senator said he and Bush were united in their determination to hunt down bin Laden, who jolted the race Friday with a video threatening new violence. (
Bush meets advisors over new bin Laden tape)
But Kerry refused to back off his long-standing argument that Bush made a big mistake three years ago by failing to send American troops after bin Laden -- blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States -- when he was believed to be trapped in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan.
"As Americans we are absolutely united, all of us -- there are no Democrats, there are no Republicans -- as Americans, we are united in our determination to destroy, capture, kill Osama bin Laden and all of the terrorists," he said.
Without mentioning the tape directly, Kerry also said the United States still needed "the leadership of our troops and the strategies that make us safe" and promised to do better at both than Bush.
"As I have said for two years now, when Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda were cornered in the mountains of Tora Bora, it was wrong to outsource the job of capturing them to Afghan warlords," he told a rally in Appleton.
Kerry aides said they would not let the new bin laden tape to overshadow the campaign debate over who could make America safer, but they clearly wrestled with how to handle it. (
Special Report: America Votes 2004)
Kerry had dropped his usual reference to Tora Bora at a rally in Miami on Friday night, after Bush accused the Democrat of using a local television interview to politicize the issue. In a response to a question about the bin Laden tape, Kerry had repeated his assertion that the president bungled the chance catch bin Laden.
Kerry renewed the attack Saturday. "Instead of using the best-trained troops in the world who wanted to avenge America for what happened in New York and Pennsylvania and Washington, it was wrong to divert our forces from Afghanistan so that we could rush to the war in Iraq without a plan to win the peace," he said in Appleton.
In a bitter and deadlocked campaign, some political analysts believe the bin Laden tape could help Bush by reminding voters of his perceived strength -- fighting the war on terror. Others said it could benefit Kerry by reminding them that the al Qaeda leader was still at large and a threat.
"We will certainly know by Tuesday night sometime," Kerry adviser Mike McCurry said.
Kerry pledged to use all his leadership skills "and that is, believe me, more than we have today" to fight "a smarter, more effective, tougher, more strategic war on terror."
In a pitch to women voters and independents, Kerry painted an emotional picture of a spouse at a polling booth on Tuesday wondering how long a loved one would have to stay in Iraq and children wondering "daddy, mommy when are you coming home, are you coming home?"
"And they're going to wonder whether or not we can afford four more years of a president who is unwilling to admit any mistake at all that he has made and says that he would do it all over again exactly the way that he has done it now."
Kerry promised a new start in Iraq and said he would bring more allies in to help with security and reconstruction. But countries like France and Germany that opposed the war have given no indication of any new willingness to help even if the Democrat is elected.
Campaigning in the critical battleground state of Wisconsin where more than 67,000 jobs have been lost since Bush took office, Kerry also blasted the president's economic record and rebuked him for favoring the powerful over the middle class. (
Showdown state Wisconsin)
