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| 'KIDS' QUIT KERRY |
| Saturday, September 25, 2004 |
By DEBORAH ORIN Washington Bureau Chief
September 25, 2004 -- Democrat John Kerry has lost his lead with under-30 voters because the iPod generation is getting more optimistic that the country is headed in the right direction, a new Newsweek poll found.
President Bush and Kerry are now in a dead heat among the youngest voters with Kerry getting 45 percent and Bush 44 � a big switch from last month, when Kerry had a 9-point lead of 50 to 41 percent among under-30s, the GENext voter poll found. Its error margin is plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Democrats had been hoping for a big boost from younger voters with music stars like Wyclef Jean, Mary J. Blige, Bruce Springsteen, the Dixie Chicks, Dave Matthews and Pearl Jam lining up for Kerry.
The most recent Newsweek poll of voters of all ages gave Bush a 6-point lead. He tops other national polls by margins ranging from a few points to double digits.
Meanwhile, Kerry yesterday claimed Bush "let Osama bin Laden slip away" � just days after his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, took the opposite tack and hinted Bush has a sneaky plan to produce bin Laden just before the November election.
Bush, meanwhile, slammed Kerry as unfit to lead the United States and charged that Kerry undercut a key ally by accusing Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi of covering up the real problems in his country.
"You can't lead this country if your ally in Iraq feels like you question his credibility. The message ought to be to the Iraqi people: 'We support you,' " Bush said.
For the past week, Kerry has taken an increasingly anti-war stance on Iraq as he struggles to come back.
"The invasion of Iraq was a profound diversion from the battle against our greatest enemy, al Qaeda," Kerry said in a speech yesterday at Temple University in Philadelphia, claiming Bush "outsourced" the bin Laden hunt "to Afghan warlords who let Osama bin Laden slip away."
By contrast, Kerry's wife suggested Wednesday there could be a secret Bush plan for an October surprise entailing the capture of bin Laden before the election, saying: "I wouldn't be surprised if he appeared in the next month."
Kerry yesterday accused Bush of diverting troops from Afghanistan to Iraq, adding: "All you have to do is ask Gen. Tommy Franks" � just days after Franks, who's pro-Bush, said that Kerry claim was false.
"That's absolutely incorrect. You know, hey, my name's Tommy Franks and I don't lie," Franks said this week.
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posted by Jay Are @ 9:30:00 AM   |
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