By Howard Wilkinson
Enquirer staff writer

Cincinnati will be the battleground for the votes of America's veterans next week, when President Bush and Democrat John Kerry speak to the national Veterans of Foreign Wars convention.

Bush is expected Monday at the Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center to address the convention, which is expected to draw 15,000 veterans and their spouses from Saturday through Aug. 20.

He will be followed Wednesday by Kerry, a Vietnam vet and VFW member.

"It just shows that both campaigns take the veterans' vote seriously,'' said John Furgess, a Vietnam veteran from Nashville, Tenn., who will be inducted as the VFW's new national commander.

"And they should - there's a lot of us and we pretty much all vote."

Both campaigns seem to have ratcheted up their campaign to win support from the nation's nearly 26 million military veterans, with the Kerry campaign playing up his record as a decorated swift boat skipper in Vietnam and the Bush campaign arguing that their candidate is best suited to lead the war on terrorism.

Furgess said he thinks that when Kerry and Bush come to Cincinnati, both would be well-advised to address the issues most on veterans' minds - national defense, POWs and MIAs, and improving the federal health-care system for veterans.

"The people of the VFW will be listening very carefully to what these two men have to say,'' said Furgess. "So will veterans all over the country.''

"We have Republicans and we have Democrats,'' he said. "We don't endorse presidential candidates. All we ask our members to do is vote."

E-mail hwilkinson@enquirer .com