MILWAUKEE — Beginning round one in the battle to win
Wisconsin for this fall’s presidential election, Sen. John
Kerry spoke Thursday in Milwaukee, berating President Bush’s
record on everything from the economy to the administration’s
policies in Iraq.

“George Bush does not have a record he can run on,”
Kerry said to a packed crowd at a YMCA on the city’s north
side. “He has a record he has to run from.”

Kerry said Bush has failed at maximizing U.S. success in Iraq
and at minimizing the costs to American troops and American
pocketbooks. Saying he would return the United States to the
“community of nations” if elected, Kerry argued America
should act multilaterally in Iraq rather than going at it
alone.

“We ought to be engaged in a bold, clear, startlingly
honest appeal to the world,” Kerry said. “We need to
share the decision-making and the responsibility.”

Calling the president’s foreign policy
“ideological” and “arrogant,” Kerry said America
must finish out the policy the administration began in Iraq.

“We must be successful,” he said. “No one’s security
is advantaged by a failed Iraq.”

The Democratic nominee, however, would not comment on the 9/11
commission or national security advisor Condoleezza Rice’s
testimony when asked.

Kerry spoke on the nation’s economy, hammering Bush for
losing 2.8 million jobs and giving tax cuts to wealthy Americans.
The Massachusetts senator told the audience he would roll back
Bush’s “unaffordable” tax cut to fund a
health-care plan to cover 97 percent of Americans.

He also claimed he would work to put a stop to the wave of
outsourcing of American jobs by creating tax incentives for
companies to stay at home. Kerry promises to create 10 million new
jobs if elected.

When asked about the drop in financial-aid dollars in the form
of Pell Grants and Perkins loans, Kerry said he would stop further
cuts in order not to “have any young Americans downsizing
their dreams.” He criticized Bush for having benefited from
attending America’s finest institutions yet not working to
open those same doors for other young people.

As host for Kerry’s speech, Gov. Jim Doyle emphasized the
“special burden” Wisconsin has to elect Kerry because
it is one of the few states in play for the coming election,
meaning it could go either Democrat or Republican.

“In order for John Kerry to become the next president of
the United States, he must carry Wisconsin,” Doyle said.

Kerry echoed Doyle’s sentiments, saying the Democrats will
have to organize and fight like never before to secure a win on
Election Day.

“This campaign is going to be hard-fought,” he said.
“We need to build the strongest grassroots effort this
country and this party has ever known.”

Bush supporters acknowledged the state would be a tough
battleground for both sides this fall but felt Kerry’s
message would not resonate with moderate and undecided voters who
could swing Wisconsin Democrat or Republican.

“Negativity doesn’t motivate people to vote,”
said Jessi Schober, vice-chair of Students for Bush.

Schober said the state is definitely up for grabs this year,
particularly due to the 2000 election, where Bush lost the state to
Gore by less than one vote per ward.

“I think there are many more people that are going to be
mobilized this year than they were in the past,” she said.
“I think 2000 was really a wake-up call for voters in terms
of every vote mattering.”