Clinton returns to home state for Kerry

FORMER US President Bill Clinton helped re-energise the presidential campaign on Sunday in Arkansas, which was once considered a sure win for President George W Bush but now appears up for grabs in new polls.

Two days before the election, Senator John Kerry’s supporters turned out to welcome home the native son who state Democratic leaders say could generate a record turnout today.

Clinton, who has been on a tour through battleground states during the past week, returned to his home state for the first time since undergoing quadruple bypass surgery on September 6 in New York.

He urged supporters to fight to secure Arkansas’s six electoral votes for Kerry. Bush won the state by five percentage points in 2000.

Clinton reminded about 4,500 supporters gathered at the Statehouse Convention Centre of his White House record, when he said the economy was good and people in Arkansas had jobs.

“Let’s just shell down the corn here and talk about some things no other Democrat can talk about, but heck, I ain’t running for anything,” Clinton told the cheering crowd.

“How come we’re not winning in Arkansas by the same margin I did? You know as well as I do that out in the country they are wearing us out from guns and gay marriage.”

He said Kerry opposes same-sex marriage, but like Bush, he supports civil unions. The difference, he said, is Kerry does not support a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage.

“I want you to work for this election and I want you to bring it home,” Clinton said. “It’s not too late. You go back and find someone you know who is undecided ... and remind them of what I said tonight.”

Arkansas had been considered a battleground, but after Labour Day both parties stopped purchasing ads in the state and the Bush campaign redeployed some of its paid workers to Florida and Colorado.

Until October, polls showed Bush with a comfortable lead in Arkansas, with 52% of likely voters favouring him compared with 43% for Kerry. However, recent polls indicate a considerably closer race.

A poll by Zogby International for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on October 10-11 showed Bush with 46.2% and Kerry with 44.6%. Another poll commissioned by the Arkansas News Bureau and Stephens Media Group on October 18 showed the candidates tied at 48%.