Debate plows little new ground

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The presidential contenders last night provided a prime-time rerun of their previous encounters, trading scripted barbs, citing competing statistics and basically calling one another a liar in their third and final debate.

Both men relied on the time-tested rhetoric of their respective parties as they sought to rally their political bases heading into the three-week homestretch to Election Day.

President Bush portrayed Sen. John Kerry as a tax-and-spend liberal who offers plans that will fall on taxpayers' backs and who won't take action to protect the country unless it passes a "global test" of foreign leaders.

"There's a mainstream in American politics," Mr. Bush told Mr. Kerry "and you're sitting on the far left bank." He also repeatedly said Mr. Kerry voted to increase taxes 98 times during his Senate tenure.

Mr. Kerry painted the president as a man unconcerned about the struggles of most voters, calling the president's economic policies failures that cater to the rich and said his plans to expand health care coverage leaves too many people uninsured.

"Children across our country don't have health care. We're the richest country on the face of the planet, the only industrialized nation in the world not to do it," Mr. Kerry said.

When following Mr. Bush's response to a question about jobs, Mr. Kerry offered up a zinger that also showed his knowledge of pop-culture by referencing the lead character from HBO's mafia drama.

"Being lectured by President Bush about fiscal responsibility is like Tony Soprano talking about law and order," Mr. Kerry said.

The president also spoke of his desire to promote a "culture of life," exemplified by his opposition to partial-birth abortion, and reiterated that he would not back down from his doctrine of fighting terrorists on their turf, regardless of which foreign countries might oppose him.

Mr. Kerry, conversely, touched issues close to his liberal Democratic base ? raising the minimum wage, reinstating the ban on some assault-style firearms, standing up for abortion rights, and rolling back the Bush tax cuts to the levels of the Clinton years.