Bush Says World Safer; Kerry Argues Danger Increased (Correct)

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Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush said four- term Massachusetts Senator John Kerry shifted positions on the Iraq war as his Democratic rival accused him of making the world more dangerous by rushing to war and alienating U.S. allies.

``I saw a unique threat in Saddam Hussein as did my opponent because we thought he had weapons of mass destruction,'' Bush, 58, told voters at a town-hall debate at Washington University in St. Louis. ``I wasn't happy when we found out there wasn't weapons and we've got an intelligence group together to figure out why.''

``The world is more dangerous today because the president didn't make the right decisions,'' Kerry, 60, said. ``The president didn't find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so he's really turned his campaign into a weapon of mass deception.''

Kerry won tonight's debate by 47 percent to 45 percent for Bush, CNN said, citing a poll of 515 viewers with an error margin of 4 percentage points. ABC's poll said Kerry won by 44 percent to 41 percent.

Bush didn't score a clear win over Kerry in the 90-minute debate, said Evans Witt, chief executive officer of Princeton Survey Research International, a non-partisan polling firm. Ten of 12 national polls since their first debate Sept. 30 showed the Nov. 2 race in a statistical tie. Polls showed Kerry the winner of the first debate.

``Bush didn't fall off a cliff tonight, but Kerry demonstrated that he is at least Bush's equal and that's good for Democrats,'' Witt said.

Defending Policies

Bush defended decision to go to war in Iraq after a CIA report on Oct. 6 showed Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, one of the president's main justifications for the war. Kerry said tonight the war in Iraq has distracted attention from nuclear weapon development in Iran and North Korea.

``It is a threat that has grown while the president has been preoccupied with Iraq,'' Kerry said.

Bush challenged Kerry's ability to lead the U.S. and allies in a war he called the wrong war at the wrong time. ``I don't see we can win in Iraq if you don't believe we should be there in the first place,'' Bush said. ``You've got to be consistent when you're the president. You've got to be firm.''

L. Paul Bremer, the former top U.S. official in Iraq, said that the U.S. needed more troops at the start of the occupation and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he hadn't seen ``hard evidence'' of a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Bush may also have to explain those statements.

Prescription Drugs

Bush and Kerry took questions on their plans to bring consumer prices down for pharmaceutical drugs and improve the availability of health care.

``I haven't yet'' made a decision on whether to import drugs from Canada, Bush said. ``I just want to make sure they're safe,'' he said. ``I want to make sure it cures you and doesn't kill you.''

Kerry pointed out that Bush said four years ago he thought imports from Canada made sense. ``Ladies and gentlemen, the president just didn't level with you right now, again,'' Kerry said.

Bush supported a drug benefit for seniors under Medicare passed by Congress. Kerry said the Republican-backed bill helps drug companies more than patients and wants to allow drug imports from Canada where government controls keep prices down.

Health Care

Kerry proposes a $653 billion plan to extend health insurance to 27 million Americans who aren't now covered through their work or a government plan.

``You didn't hear any plan from the president, because he doesn't have a plan to lower health care,'' Kerry said.

Bush criticized Kerry's plan at a rally in Wausau, Wisconsin yesterday as ``putting us on the path to Hillary care,'' a reference to the failed health care proposal put forward in 1993 by Hillary Clinton, now a New York senator, when her husband, Bill, was president.

Bush said revisions to medical liability laws would lower health care costs. ``Doctors who practice defensive medicine cost the government $28 billion a year in extra cost,'' Bush said.

``Yes, it's a problem'' Kerry said, referring to damage claims won in trials, though it's less than 1 percent of the total cost of health care.

Kerry would lower premiums and help cover catastrophic claims, partly by rolling back Bush's tax cuts for households earning $200,000 or more.

A voter in the audience asked Kerry to look into the camera and say he wouldn't raise taxes on middle-class families earning less than $200,000 a year. ``Absolutely,'' Kerry said. ``I am not going to raise taxes.''

Bush Futures Fall

Bush futures traded on the Dublin Intrade Internet market fell during the course of the debate, trading at 55 at the close, the lowest since Aug. 28, the day before the Republican National Convention. The futures were trading at 59.8 at the start of the debate.

The futures prices represent the odds bettors give Bush or Kerry for winning the election, with winning contracts climbing to 100 after the November 2 election and losing contracts expiring worthless. Winning contracts yield $10.

Rebuild Alliances

Kerry stepped up his attacks on the president's policies in Iraq in recent weeks. Tonight, Kerry promised to rebuild U.S. alliances with countries that opposed the war with Iraq. ``We're not going to go unilaterally,'' said Kerry. ``We're not going to go alone like this president did.''

Bush countered there are 30 countries in Iraq working with the U.S., citing cooperation with Great Britain, Italy and Poland. ``Tell Tony Blair we're going it alone. Tell Silvio Berlusconi we're going it alone. Tell Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland we're going it alone.''

``It denigrates an alliance to say we're going alone, to discount their sacrifices,'' Bush said. ``They're sacrificing with us.''

Kerry said eight countries have left the coalition, and that if Missouri were a country it would be the third-largest member of the coalition behind the U.S. and Great Britain.

Supreme Court, Abortion

Bush refused to say who he would choose if there were a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. He said his criteria would be a judge who strictly interprets the Constitution without imposing his personal opinions in rulings.

Kerry said he would appoint someone who could write a good judicial decision, regardless of ideology.

``I don't believe we need a good conservative judge, and I don't believe we need a good liberal judge,'' said Kerry. ``I don't believe we need a good judge of that kind of definition on either side.''

Asked what Kerry would say to a person who believed abortion is murder and wanted reassurance tax dollars wouldn't go to support it, Kerry said he is a Catholic who respects the belief about life and when it begins. Kerry said he wouldn't let his personal views shape abortion policy.

``But I can't take what is an article of faith for me and legislate it for someone who doesn't share that article of faith, whether they be agnostic, atheist, Jew, Protestant, whatever,'' said Kerry.

``My answer is, we're not going to spend taxpayers' money on abortion,'' Bush said.

``These are reasonable ways to help promote a culture of life in America,'' said Bush. ``I think it is a worthy goal in America to have every child protected by law and welcomed in life.''

Uncommitted Voters

In tonight's debate, moderated by Charles Gibson of ABC News, about 20 uncommitted voters chosen by the Gallup Organization were called on to ask questions, pre-selected by Gibson. The campaigns agreed to rules that direct Gibson to stop any voter who strays from the approved question. Participants' microphones will be cut off after they ask their question so they can't follow up.

``What they're trying to do is basically gag that audience,'' said Alan Schroeder, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston and author of ``Televised Presidential Debates: 40 Years of High-Risk TV.'' The Bush team didn't want the town hall and agreed to it only after concessions on the other debates, he said. ``Their next thought was to try to get the rules that they thought might favor Bush.''

The last of three presidential debates will take place Oct. 13 at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. The debate will have the same format as the first one, with Kerry and Bush standing at podiums. The questions will focus on domestic policy and will be prepared by moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS News.

To contact the reporters on this story: William Roberts in Washington at wroberts@Bloomberg.net Roger Runningen traveling with Bush rrunningen@bloomberg.net Richard Keil, traveling with Kerry dkeil@Bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 9, 2004 00:52 EDT