Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004 | 9:28 a.m.
Campaign leaders for John Kerry promised a series of visits throughout Nevada next week by the Democratic presidential nominee and his running mate.
Vietnam veterans supporting the Democratic hopeful also reacted Wednesday to President Bush's missing military records recovered by the Associated Press, records that show Bush did not fulfill his required duty in the National Guard, putting himself at risk for call up to active duty.
Terry Care, state chairman for the Kerry camp, promised a fiery Kerry who will deal with the Bush administration's Iraq war record and the war on terror.
"He will be leveling some blistering remarks on the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq," said Care, a Vietnam veteran himself.
The Kerry campaign's pending visits include:
Bush campaign officials said President Bush would be addressing the National Guard convention on Tuesday, two days before Kerry's appearance. They declined to give further details.
Asked why the Democrats are sweeping through Nevada, Care said, "This was forecast to be a close election."
Kerry has promised to stop the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository, Care said.
"President Bush did dishonorable service to this state," he said of the decision by Bush and Congress to approve the high-level nuclear waste dump in 2003. "People of this state need to know that Nevada matters."
Thursday's visit by Kerry will be his fourth in Las Vegas this year. He has not visited northern Nevada, considered more of a Republican stronghold.
President Bush visited Reno in June, his second time in the state since being elected. He earlier visited Las Vegas in November, raising $3 million for his re-election bid.
Former Rep. Jim Bilbray, co-chairman of the Kerry state steering committee, said that Kerry was leading Bush by one percentage point in Nevada.
"This is a dead-even state," Bilbray said. "People should rise up and vote in droves for Kerry."
Kerry will keep his promise on stopping Yucca Mountain, Bilbray said.
"I guarantee you, he can stop this site," he said.
Bilbray also said that Nevada has the highest percentage of active National Guardsmen on duty with more than 60 percent. "They are becoming full-time soldiers," he said.
Las Vegas attorney John Hunt said he is an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam and his 22-year-old son, William Harris, is facing another tour of Iraq in the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division. Harris has spent nine months in Fallujah, returning to Las Vegas in May.
"I find it almost incredulous that the president says he cannot win the war on terror," Hunt, senior coordinator for veterans supporting Kerry in Nevada, said. "John Kerry stepped up, President Bush stepped out," by joining the Texas National Guard.
"Yet he's asking our sons and daughters to return to a war zone that he himself believes we cannot win," Hunt said.
With the questions raised over Bush's own National Guard service, Hunt and Vietnam vet Johnathan Abbinett wondered whether the veterans of Operation Freedom and this Iraqi war will have their medals and benefits come under fire at home.
A lot of people from privileged backgrounds, such as Kerry, did not use that as an excuse to stay out of Vietnam, Abbinett said.
"It's a question of character, and character is important this time," he said.
Sun reporter
Kirsten Searer contributed to this story.
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