Campaign finale draws gaffes, wacky lines

As the presidential race winds down, the two camps are dialing up the rhetoric. That's led to some far-out statements, unscripted behavior and foot-in-mouth comments from both sides.

Generating homestretch shock waves were Vice President Dick Cheney's nuclear-bomb terror warnings for U.S. cities, Sen. John Kerry's efforts to blame President Bush for flu vaccine shortages and Teresa Heinz Kerry's suggestion that Laura Bush never had a "real job."

Heinz Kerry apologized, saying she "forgot" that the first lady worked for 10 years as a teacher and librarian.

The comment, which could hurt Kerry among undecided women voters who are stay-at-home moms, appeared to reflect the enormous pressures on both campaigns in a close race.

"Part of what's happening is the consequence of all the tensions and anxieties from the fact that neither candidate made a big move in the polls after the debates. We're left with the same dead heat we had at the start," said Wayne Fields, an expert in presidential rhetoric at Washington University in St. Louis.

•	Campaign finale draws gaffes, wacky lines Associated Press Online, Monday, Oct. 25, 2004 Byline: Tom Raum

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