Bush took time out from debate preparations at his Texas ranch for a five-hour, five-county bus trip through Southwest Ohio, culminating at a rally of more than 50,000 supporters at Voice of America Park in West Chester.

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"Later this week, I'm going to have the opportunity to debate my opponent," Bush said as a backer yelled, "Give him hell!"

The president continued: "It's been a little tough to prepare for the debates because he keeps changing his positions, especially on the war. ... You can't lead if you don't know where you stand."

Bush escalated his attacks on John Kerry's Senate votes authorizing war in Iraq, then opposing an appropriations bill to pay for it. The president criticized Kerry's explanation that his votes were "complicated."

"There's nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat," Bush said to loud applause.

If most of Bush's speech was recycled, the Bush faithful didn't seem to mind.

"It's hard for them to travel that much and say something new each time," said Becky Grant of Monroe, a 29-year-old mother who took two sons out of school early Monday to hear the president. "But to hear it live was just so much better."

As he does at every stop in Ohio, Bush acknowledged that some places are "lagging behind" economically.

"You've got some people who are hurting here in Ohio. I know that. I'm not going to rest until every American who wants to work can find a job. We'll continue to promote pro-growth, pro-small business, pro-farmer economic policy so everybody has a chance to be able to make a living," he said.

Other Bush themes: maintaining his tax cuts while simplifying the tax code, limiting medical malpractice lawsuits and letting people invest part of their Social Security contributions in a personal savings account.

The bus tour began at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and included stops in Springfield, Cedarville, Xenia, Waynesville and Springboro - even stopping at a rest stop south of Middletown to change shirts and give the national press time to set up in West Chester.

Along the route, Bush stood in the front of the campaign bus and waved to the throngs of people - thousands upon thousands of supporters and schoolchildren, including several high school marching bands - that greeted him in every small town. In Xenia, he hopped out at the Greene County Courthouse for a two-minute speech.

If there's a more Republican part of the state, Ohio GOP chairman Robert T. Bennett had trouble Monday remembering where it might be.

"Did you see them lined up on the streets? It was fantastic," Bennett said after he got off the bus with Bush in West Chester. "People really connect with this guy."

Aides along

Also joining Bush for all or part of the tour were at least four Ohio congressmen, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, chief political adviser Karl Rove and campaign speechwriter Karen Hughes. And there was Sen. Mike DeWine, who posed with the president in front of Air Force One with two children and his eight grandchildren.

"A bus trip is different. It's not just going into a set audience," said DeWine, a Cedarville resident who, as Bush reminded the Clark County crowd, was born in Springfield. "You're going into small communities that have never seen a president before. He's getting big crowds just to stand out there and wave."

In Ohio, Bush enjoys a lead in the recent polls of anywhere from 4 percent to 15 percent - depending on the poll and the margins of error. DeWine said Republicans think it's much closer, and that Bush has been campaigning in Ohio "like he's running for governor."

Few protesters

Except for Xenia, where Bush stopped a block away from the Democratic headquarters, no more than a smattering of protesters could be found.

Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken, in an e-mailed statement, provided the Democratic response: "George Bush is campaigning in his base, but what he doesn't understand is that thousands of swing voters, Republicans, and independents throughout this state are fed up with his failed policies and are anxious to elect John Kerry on Nov. 2."

The only other scheduled stop of the day was in Springfield, where education was the focus.

There, Bush held an hour-long forum in a cavernous livestock exhibition hall at the Clark County Fairgrounds. With him on stage was Tracy Reiner, the mother of three children at Hopewell Elementary School in West Chester. The middle child, Joshua, is a fourth-grader with what his mother calls "learning differences."

"She's turning this into Dr. Phil, you know," Bush joked at one point in her story. He then turned to Joshua, sitting in the front row: "Listen to your mother, though. I'm still listening to mine."

At each stop, Bush paid attention to the nuts and bolts of grass-roots campaigning - urging people to register their Republican and independent friends and even "discerning Democrats." He urged people to vote for their Republican congressmen (he drove through four congressional districts, all held by Republicans) and Sen. George Voinovich.

It's a strategy that even extended to the Hamilton County prosecutor's race. Bush plugged Joe Deters' write-in campaign to replace the scandal-plagued Prosecutor Mike Allen. "My friend, Joe Deters, is here," Bush said. "Make sure you write him in. He's a good one."

Meeting with the Maupins

Bush shook hands with supporters and met briefly with the parents of Spc. Keith "Matt" Maupin, hugging them before boarding a Marine helicopter for the ride back to Wright-Patterson.

Carolyn Maupin declined to discuss her meeting with the president. But her congressman, Rep. Rob Portman, said Bush spoke at length about the mission in Iraq and the search for their son, who has been missing since April.

"They had a good talk - just the three of them," Portman said.

Bush is scheduled to return to Ohio on Saturday with campaign events in Columbus, Mansfield and Akron.

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Reporter Erica Solvig contributed.