SUNRISE, Fla. — President Bush launched a campaign blitz in the state that narrowly gave him the 2000 election as a new poll showed him tied with Sen. John F. Kerry in Florida.
On Saturday, the president appealed for votes at two rallies in the Democratic stronghold of southeastern Florida and a third in Daytona Beach. He planned to travel again to the state Monday and Tuesday, and return often in the two weeks leading up to the election.
"We will be here frequently, covering the state like the morning dew," Karl Rove, the president's chief political advisor, said during a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Four new national polls released Saturday showed Bush ahead of the Massachusetts Democrat by slim margins. Among likely voters, the president was backed by 50% of those polled in two of the surveys and 48% in the others. Support for Kerry ranged from 47% to 44%.
But at this point in the race, each side is more focused on a dwindling number of battleground states that should determine which candidate wins the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the White House. And the clear message from the Bush campaign was that the president's reelection, like his election, might hinge on Florida and its 27 electoral votes.
The Kerry camp also views Florida as potentially crucial to the Democrat's hopes. In a sign of that, Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, campaigned in the state this weekend. And Kerry will swing through Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando and Tampa on Monday.
Democrats also are raining television commercials into key Florida markets, a Kerry aide said.
Although election day is more than two weeks away, voters in Florida can vote as early as Monday, and the president urged his supporters to give him a head start in the state.
"Make sure you get people to the polls. Starting Monday, people can vote," Bush told the crowd of several thousand people in a sports arena in Sunrise.
By urging people to vote early, the Bush campaign hopes to avoid losing voters who are unable to make it to the polls Nov. 2, Rove said.
"Don't overlook discerning Democrats," the president added.
One Democrat, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle, gave his support to the president during the rally in Sunrise.
"My party nominated the wrong man at the wrong place at the wrong time," Naugle said. His words, which mimicked a statement by Kerry on the war in Iraq, drew an approving roar from the crowd.
