Kerry and Edwards beat Bush in polls

THE two Democratic contenders hoping to challenge George Bush for the presidency would beat him if an election were held now, according to a poll yesterday.

Senator John Kerry leads Mr Bush by 12 points, the first time it has been in double figures.

The Vietnam war hero, who is easily leading the campaign for the Democratic nomination, has 55% support, compared to Bush's 43%, according to the Gallup poll for CNN and USA Today. Mr Kerry's Democratic challenger North Carolina Senator John Edwards would also beat Mr Bush, with 54%.

The poll results will make tough reading for the White House at a time when Mr Bush is coming under increasing pressure over the Iraq war, the budget and jobs. He has also been targeted by Democrats questioning his military service record during Vietnam.

Despite the apparent setback for Mr Bush, the poll comes before he has started campaigning for a second term in office. Commentators and Republicans believe the publicity surrounding the Democratic campaign is bound to have a negative effect on Mr Bush's standing.

"Certainly, we'd rather be up than down," said Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie. "We have seen $49 million in negative advertising and I suspect that has had an impact." Mr Bush has a reported $180m set aside for his campaign, vastly more than Mr Kerry or Mr Edwards.

The poll of 1,006 adults, including 898 registered voters and 568 likely voters, was taken on February 16 and 17.

On Wednesday, the field of Democrats battling for the party nomination to challenge Mr Bush was effectively narrowed down to Mr Kerry and Mr Edwards when former Vermont governor Howard Dean dropped out of the race.

Meanwhile, Mr Kerry has come under another attack for his links to "special interests".

He has campaigned against special interests like lobbyists and business-motivated political donors. But it was reported yesterday that Mr Kerry pressured Congress and the Pentagon to fund a missile system on behalf of a San Diego contractor who pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions to Mr Kerry and other politicians.

According to the Los Angeles Times, from 1996 to 1999, Mr Kerry sent 28 letters urging the release of funds for a guided missile system Parthasarathi Majumder was trying to build for US warplanes.

The letters were sent at a time when Mr Majumder and employees at his Science and Applied Technology company were donating money to Mr Kerry, the newspaper said, citing court records. Last week, Mr Majumder pleaded guilty to two counts of illegal campaign contributions and defrauding the government.