Kerry makes late push in Nevada

Kirsten Searer

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004 | 11 a.m.

Sen. John Kerry, in a late-in-the-game swing through Las Vegas, told a crowd of at least 8,000 at Jaycee Park on Tuesday that President Bush has lost allies, lost jobs and racked up a deficit.

"George Bush has not made America safer," Kerry said. "I will."

This was Kerry's seventh trip to the state since February, and he joked that he saw a guy holding up a sign that said, "You again?"

Most polls give Bush a small advantage in Nevada, though Kerry's visit -- and reports that President Clinton will come to town Friday -- show the campaign thinks the state is still in play.

Kerry implored his supporters to give their everything in the next week before Tuesday's election, even asking them to approach people in stores to ask who they're voting for and why.

"I need you to have my back the next seven days," he said. "I need you to have my back on Tuesday."

In return, he said, "I'll be able to look you in the eye and tell you everyday for the next four years, 'I've got your back.' "

The worst lie Bush has told to Nevadans, Kerry said, was that he would evaluate sound science before proceeding with the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, a project that Kerry has vowed to stop because of concerns it would not be safe.

"He promised you he wouldn't go ahead with Yucca Mountain unless it was safe," Kerry said. "I tell you, Nevada, not on my watch."

Kerry continued to hammer the Bush administration on reports that a huge cache of explosives were lost in Iraq and could play into the hands of terrorists.

Similar explosives were used to take down Pan Am Flight 103 and to attack the USS Cole, he said.

The Iraqi interim government had said this month that the explosives were lost to theft and looting because they weren't secured by U.S. troops. It's another example of how Bush didn't sent in enough troops to fight the war in Iraq while protecting the border and weapons there, Kerry said.

Bush officials fought back against those charges on Tuesday.

In the morning, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said at a Green Valley rally that the explosives that were in Iraq showed that the country had dangerous weapons that needed to be dealt with.

Shortly after Kerry started his speech, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., interrupted him to say that a high school classmate of his has decided to vote for Kerry even though he is a Republican.

The man has three grandchildren with juvenile diabetes, and he wants the federal government to support stem cell research, Reid said.

Later, Kerry called Bush's decision to not extensively fund stem cell research an "insult."

Actors Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, and Christopher Reeve, who recently passed away from complications of his quadriplegia, know that, Kerry said.

"We are going to do stem cell research and find the cures to diabetes, Parkinson's and other diseases," Kerry said.

After Kerry's speech, buses and vans transported supporters to early voting sites. America Coming Together, a third-party group opposed to Bush, recruited supporters outside to do last-minute grass-roots work for $10 an hour.

Supporters behind Kerry unfolded a sign that said, "Like father like son, one term you're done." Signs passed out in the crowd read, "Seven more days to a fresh start."

Before leaving Las Vegas, Kerry took time out on the tarmac to play a lengthy game of catch with personal aide Marvin Nicholson.

The men traded suit coats for baseball mitts and threw a baseball for some time as secret service agents, police officers, and a bank of photographers looked on.

Kerry then thanked the motorcycle officers who had led his motorcade. With a wave he boarded the campaign's Boeing 757.

The plane -- a large American flag painted on its side and "The Real Deal" slogan painted on its engines -- took off from McCarran International Airport at about 5 pm.