Left, right jabs: Kerry hits at war, jobs; Bush blasts taxes, spending

TEMPE, Ariz. — Sen. John Kerry said Wednesday night that President Bush bears responsibility for a misguided war in Iraq, lost jobs at home and mounting millions without health care. Bush tagged his Democratic rival as a lifelong liberal bent on raising taxes and government spending.

"There's a mainstream in American politics, and you sit right on the far left bank," Bush said in the final debate of a close and contentious campaign for the White House. "Your record is such that Ted Kennedy, your colleague, is the conservative senator from Massachusetts."

Undeterred, the Democratic challenger said many of the nation's ills can be laid at Bush's feet.

He "regrettably rushed us into war" in Iraq, Kerry said, and the country is less safe as a result. He said 11 consecutive presidents, Republicans and Democrats alike, have been hit with recession and war, yet "none of them lost jobs the way this president has."

As for health care, the Democratic senator said, 5 million Americans have lost coverage under Bush's watch. "The president has turned his back on the wellness of America, and there is no system and it's starting to fall apart," Kerry said.

Kerry and the president also debated abortion, gay rights, immigration and more in a 90-minute debate that underscored deep differences only 19 campaign days before Election Day.

This debate was similar in format to the first — the two rivals standing behind identical lecterns set precisely 10 feet apart. Bush was on better behavior, though, and there was no grimacing and scowling this time when it was Kerry's turn to speak.

The encounter was also a policy wonk's dream — a blizzard of facts and figures, references to "budget caps" and other terms meaningful only to Washington insiders.

It also turned into a tug of war of sorts over Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican maverick who is Kerry's Senate friend but Bush's campaign supporter. Kerry twice invoked his name during the debate, and the second time Bush pounced.

"John McCain is for me for president" he said, because of his position on Iraq. Kerry, he said, offers a policy of "retreat and defeat."

Taxes were a particular flash point between the president and his challenger.

Questioned by moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS, Kerry said he would follow through on his plan to roll back tax cuts for Americans who earn more than $200,000 a year while preserving the reductions that have gone to lower and middle income wage earners.