ELECTION 2004

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Appearing with the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson and prominent Cleveland civil rights pioneers at the pulpit of East Mount Zion Baptist Church, Kerry confessed that as a "white American with a privileged background," he was "barely qualified" to speak to a black audience about the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

But he said King's message wasn't about black or white values, but about "American values."

The Sunday church service was part of a strong get-out-the-vote effort in the state's urban areas, said J. B. Poersch, Kerry's Ohio campaign manager.

Kerry has received lukewarm support from some African-Americans.

Many say he lacks the charisma of former President Bill Clinton.

But he has been warmly received in visits to three black Baptist churches in Ohio in the past eight weeks. He also visited the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati in August, and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, campaigned in Cincinnati's Bond Hill neighborhood two weeks ago.

Jackson, who first visited Cleveland with King in 1966, said it was the African-American community that swung the vote for President John F. Kennedy in 1960 "even before we had the right to vote."

"Let's end the misgivings," Jackson said.

Kerry promised the crowd of 600 - and clergymen, choir members and politicians easily accounted for 100 of them - that he would ensure their votes were counted. On Tuesday, he said, he will create a team of nationally prominent lawyers "of all colors" to "stand up against the kinds of things we've seen all over the country, including here in Ohio, where the secretary of state is trying to make it harder - not easier - to vote."

Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, a Cincinnati Republican, has come under fire from Democrats for promulgating a now-rescinded rule requiring all voter registration forms to be submitted on no less than 80-pound paper.

Suggesting that Republicans were trying to disenfranchise millions of black voters, Kerry said, "We're not going to let that happen because the memories of 2000 are too strong."

Kerry made the same promise in the Youngstown area hours earlier, where he made jobs the focus of a question-and-answer session with supporters at Austintown Fitch High School.

The Democratic presidential nominee's Ohio campaign stop came a day after President Bush visited Columbus, Mansfield and Cuyahoga Falls to highlight his plans for homeownership. Though Kerry spoke to far fewer people - just about 1,000 in a high school gymnasium compared with Bush's outdoor rally of 18,000 - Kerry's campaigning had a much more grass-roots, personal feel.

He stopped at a picket line in Niles, where 361 workers are locked out in a contract dispute with steelmaker RMI Titanium. And he took more than a dozen questions from the audience - something President Bush stopped doing weeks ago.

"No one had to sign a loyalty oath to get in, right?" Kerry joked, a reference to reports that some Bush-Cheney audience members have been carefully screened to avoid embarrassing questions or hecklers.

It's a difference in campaign style Kerry himself pointed out.

"The president has been here many times. I think he was here yesterday. The question is, does he really see what's going on with people, with the middle class, with people who are struggling?"

Unemployment in the Mahoning Valley is near 8 percent.

Though a Kerry campaign stop in Youngstown is about as politically risky as Bush's visit to West Chester a week ago, Kerry also tried to appeal to Ohio's swing voters. He said he supports gun rights, but would have supported the extension of the assault weapons ban.

"I believe in the Second Amendment," he said. "But I also believe that with rights come responsibilities.

"Today, a terrorist can come into a gun show in America and buy a weapon of war, and they couldn't do that before George Bush refused to support an assault weapons ban."

Bush has said he does support the ban and would sign it if passed by Congress, but Democrats say the president didn't do enough to campaign for it on Capitol Hill.

Kerry also appealed to the large number of independent voters worried about government spending.

"Ohio is a great state of common sense - a state that has always had this great streak of fiscal conservatism," he said. "What's conservative about running up the highest budget deficits in American history?"

He said he would repeal Bush's tax break for households making $200,000 or more a year.

But Kerry's main message was a pitch to create more jobs by cutting health care costs and enforcing trade agreements. He also accused the Bush administration of policies that he called "tax breaks that encourage outsourcing."

"He always says that, but it's a charge that's ludicrous because the president's entire economic plan revolves around insourcing," said Bush campaign spokesman Kevin Madden. "Sen. Kerry's economic plan can best be summed up by more taxes and more regulation, and we all know that's bad for Ohio."

Most polls show Bush with a slight lead over Kerry for Ohio's 20 electoral votes - which are considered crucial in the Nov. 2 election.

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