US President George Bush stepped up his attack on election rival John Kerry today, suggesting that the Democratic Senator could not keep the US safe from terrorists.
The tough talk came less than two weeks before the election and as Mr Kerry moved three points ahead of Mr Bush in a new opinion poll .
Mr Kerry accused Mr Bush of "trying to appeal to people's fear instinct".
Speaking in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, Mr Bush said security was the top priority for the US .
"Americans will go to the polls in a time of war and ongoing threat to our country," he said. "All progress on every other issue depends on the safety of our citizens.
"The enemies who killed thousands of innocent people are still dangerous and determined to strike us again."
Mr Bush said his opponent, a Senator from Massachusetts, did not understand the terrorist threat.
He reminded voters that one of Mr Kerry's foreign policy advisers recently compared the war on terror to the metaphorical "war on poverty".
Mr Bush said: "I've got news. Anyone who thinks we're fighting a metaphor does not understand the enemy we face and has no idea how to win the war and keep America secure."
Mr Bush asked what Mr Kerry thought terrorists like Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would be doing if they were not fighting coalition forces in Iraq.
"Opening a small business?" he asked sarcastically.
Mr Bush once again defended his decision to oust Saddam Hussein, insisting that the world was now a safer place.
At the same time, the Bush team released a new campaign commercial questioning Senator Kerry's stance on national security.
The advert shows wolves prowling in a dense forest as a narrator says: "Weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm."
But Mr Kerry countered the accusations in an interview with America's Black Forum television syndication.
"We're at war and (President Bush) is scaring people," Mr Kerry said. "He is spending a lot of time trying to appeal to people's fear instinct.
"If our base comes out and people vote for health care, if they vote for jobs, if they vote for justice and fairness, if they come out and vote for the things that matter in their lives, we're going to win."
Meanwhile, a new opinion poll by Ispos Public Affairs for the Associated Press found that Mr Kerry led Mr Bush by 49 per cent to 46 per cent.
But the poll has a margin or error of 3 per cent, making the result a statistical dead heat.
The survey was based on telephone interviews of 1,540 adults including both registered and likely voters in all states except Alaska and Hawaii.
Defeated election 2000 Democrat Al Gore was planning a visit to Florida to campaign on behalf of Mr Kerry in the coming days, ABC News reported.
There are plans for former President Bill Clinton, still recovering from heart bypass surgery, to campaign in the crucial state next week.
California's Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to campaign for Mr Bush next weekend, probably in Ohio.
The states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania are being targeted so heavily by the candidates because the results there are likely to decide the outcome of the election under the electoral college voting system.
PA