Bush unleashed new attacks at Kerry on the latter's positions on national security and domestic issues at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which he lost to Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000.

"My opponent also misunderstands our battle against insurgents and terrorists. He's called it a 'diversion' from the war on terror," he said.

Bush admitted that US inspectors had not found stockpiles of banned weapons in Iraq, his major rationale to justify the Iraq war, but he continued to defend his decision to launch the war. "Saddam Hussein had the intent and capability and the expertise to rebuild a weapons program," he said.

"Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States. He had a long history of pursuing and even using weapons of mass destruction. He had ties to terror," he repeated what he had used many times in defending the decision of going to war with Iraq, although the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had concluded there was no cooperative ties between al-Qaeda and Iraq.

Blaming the Sept. 11 attacks for the job losses during his presidency, Bush said the US economy was "strong and it's getting stronger."

Bush said the US economy added 1.9 million new jobs in the last three months, and the unemployment rate across the country was the lowest than the average rates over the past three decades, despite a net loss of over 800,000 jobs over the past four year.

In attacking Kerry's domestic polices, Bush said Kerry "has made a lot of big, expensive promises," and that in the Senate, Kerry "voted 10 times to raise taxes on gasoline...has voted to raise taxes 98 times."

A new poll of likely voters in Pennsylvania showed Bush was trailing Kerry 46 percent to 51 percent. Among registered voters, Kerry led Bush 47 percent to 41 percent. The poll of 841 likely voters by Quinnipiac University Polling Institute was conducted Oct. 16-20 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

He was going to Ohio and Florida later in the day, two other swing states considered critical to the Nov. 2 election.

US President George W. Bush was paying his 41st visit to Pennsylvania, one of the battleground states in the 2004 presidential race, during his presidency on Friday although a recent poll suggested the state was leaning toward his Democratic challenger John Kerry.

Bush unleashed new attacks at Kerry on the latter's positions on national security and domestic issues at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which he lost to Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000.

"My opponent also misunderstands our battle against insurgents and terrorists. He's called it a 'diversion' from the war on terror," he said.

Bush admitted that US inspectors had not found stockpiles of banned weapons in Iraq, his major rationale to justify the Iraq war, but he continued to defend his decision to launch the war. "Saddam Hussein had the intent and capability and the expertise to rebuild a weapons program," he said.

"Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States. He had a long history of pursuing and even using weapons of mass destruction. He had ties to terror," he repeated what he had used many times in defending the decision of going to war with Iraq, although the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had concluded there was no cooperative ties between al-Qaeda and Iraq.

Blaming the Sept. 11 attacks for the job losses during his presidency, Bush said the US economy was "strong and it's getting stronger."

Bush said the US economy added 1.9 million new jobs in the lastthree months, and the unemployment rate across the country was thelowest than the average rates over the past three decades, despitea net loss of over 800,000 jobs over the past four year.

In attacking Kerry's domestic polices, Bush said Kerry "has made a lot of big, expensive promises," and that in the Senate, Kerry "voted 10 times to raise taxes on gasoline...has voted to raise taxes 98 times."

A new poll of likely voters in Pennsylvania showed Bush was trailing Kerry 46 percent to 51 percent. Among registered voters, Kerry led Bush 47 percent to 41 percent. The poll of 841 likely voters by Quinnipiac University Polling Institute was conducted Oct. 16-20 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

He was going to Ohio and Florida later in the day, two other swing states considered critical to the Nov. 2 election.