Bush, Kerry launch final votes push as polls show dead heat

THE race for the White House looks set to go to the wire as a raft of nationwide opinion polls separate George W Bush and John Kerry by between one and two points.

As the most intense and bitter campaigning of a generation enters its last 24 hours, the two candidates today embark on gruelling tours, with both taking in seven of the 12 key battleground states which will decide the outcome.

Yesterday's polls indicate that the bounce Mr Bush received from the screening of a new video statement by Osama bin Laden on Al-Jazeera last Friday has not been sustained. One poll by Reuters gave Mr Kerry a narrow lead nationwide, with other polls showing Mr Bush guarding a narrow two-point gap in the crucial states of Florida and Ohio.