ELECTION 2004 (The Enquirer/MICHAEL E. KEATING)

NATIONAL • It may be trick, not treat, for Bush • Drowning in TV political ads? • Election protests thwarted • 10 states that could swing it • Nader's name is on the ballot, but you can't cast vote for him • Bush, Kerry adopt softer tone in final days OHIO • Clermont district makes third try • Clermont County challenger derides 'club' atmosphere • What's in a name? Most often, victory • Campaign watchers complain • Budget key in 30th District • Union activist big underdog • Scandal tinges judge race • Schools say new levies are crucial • Northeastern faces deficit • Edgewood and Franklin schools put taxes to vote KENTUCKY • Crowley: Serious office politics • Election turnout could be at 70% • 'Limp wrist' charge angers Mongiardo • Fletcher name chafes brother • Facts to help Kentucky voters with Tuesday's election • Election 2004 section

The threat of terrorism was underlined by a video of Osama bin Laden aired by the Arab television station Al-Jazeera. In his first video appearance in more than a year, bin Laden told Americans, "Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands."

After countless speeches and hundreds of millions of dollars in commercials, there was little to say that hadn't already been said. Both sides focused on mobilizing supporters amid expectations that intense voter registration drives would swell Tuesday's turnout to record levels. In Ohio, Republicans lost a court appeal to block tens of thousands of voter registrations.

After four days of tough attacks on Bush over missing explosives in Iraq, Kerry said the election offered a fundamental choice. "Do you want four more years of the same failed course?" he asked voters in pivotal Florida, the state where the race was decided four years ago. "Or do you want a fresh start for America that takes us in the right direction?"

The Democratic challenger implored Floridians to "walk out of here and vote," a reference to early voting allowed in 32 states. In Tennessee, for example, 1,127,739 voted during the 15-day early period that ended Thursday evening.

Bush returned to the central theme of his campaign, that he is a stronger leader than Kerry and would do a better job of protecting the country.

"I've learned firsthand how hard it is to send young men and women into battle, even when the cause is right," the president said in New Hampshire, the only northeastern state he carried four years ago - and where he is trailing now, according to a new poll.

"The issues vary. The challenges are different every day. The polls go up. The polls go down. But a president's convictions must be consistent and true," Bush said. He did not even mention Kerry in his first speech in Manchester, N.H., but brought up his opponent at the next stop, in Portsmouth.

A spate of new state polls reflected the tightness of the race. The race is essentially tied in Wisconsin, which narrowly voted Democratic four years ago.

In keeping with his theme of national security, Bush was accompanied in New Hampshire by relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He singled out George Howard, a Port Authority officer who was off duty but responded when he heard the Twin Towers had been attacked.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Not all as planned at rallies for 'W' COLUMBUS - Friday was full of surprises for the Bush campaign. Some of the unplanned events were mundane. World Series hero Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox, who was supposed to introduce President Bush at two New Hampshire rallies, canceled, blaming his ailing ankle. He said he still backs Bush but decided it was improper for him to have endorsed the president during a TV interview. The day's loudest surprise came during a Manchester, N. H., speech when confetti guns fired prematurely, startling Bush and the crowd. Seems, said aide Karen Hughes, that Bush ad-libbed a "God bless you" during the speech. Those words, usually reserved for the end of the speech, were the confetti cue. Bush finished his speech, a heartfelt reflection on 9/11 as confetti poured down on him. The president on Friday also lost a song that has been a campaign-trail staple for months. It turns out that the catchy 1970s hit Still the One was written by John Hall, who performed it with his band Orleans in 1976. Hall also is a former Democratic county official in upstate New York. "I'm not just some guy that's stoned out and happened to write a song, and even if I were, it would still be a problem, because you should always ask permission to use the work," Hall, a John Kerry supporter, told The Associated Press. Good enough, said Bush spokeswoman Nicolle Devenish who said the song, "out of deference to Mr. Hall's views," would no longer be played. The word apparently didn't get out to everyone at the Bush campaign. It was played again at a Friday evening rally in Columbus, Ohio.

Bush said Howard's mother, Arlene, gave him her son's police shield. "I will never forget the fallen," Bush said. "God bless you, Arlene."

After scolding Kerry earlier this week as weak and wavering, Bush told a rally in Portsmouth, "I'm sure Senator Kerry means well but his policies are the wrong policies at this time of threat."

Kerry appealed for Jewish support in Florida, saying he has been a reliable friend of Israel. "I have never wavered on one vote, on one resolution, on one issue," he said.

Later in Ohio, Bush was campaigning with actor-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Organizing a big finish, Bush planned election-eve rallies in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, New Mexico and Texas, the White House said. Kerry's tentative plans for Monday call for stops in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio. Looking beyond the election, the president was planning a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

There was a flurry of last-minute political mail. In Florida conservative activists sent about a million fliers accusing Kerry of being weak on terrorism. One mailing showed an image of school children wearing gas masks and warned that the consequences of a Kerry presidency "are too frightening ... to imagine."

While Kerry muted his remarks, running mate John Edwards said the missing explosives in Iraq and an FBI investigation into Halliburton contracts in Iraq prove that new leadership is needed in the White House.

"They've been incompetent in Iraq and here at home they always look out for their powerful friends at the top," Edwards said.

Vice President Dick Cheney suggested that in raising the missing explosives this week, Kerry was belittling U.S. troops. "Our troops were doing their job," Cheney told a rally in Dimondale, Mich., calling Kerry an "armchair general."

Former New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith, a conservative Republican who once ran for president as an independent, endorsed Kerry on the eve of Bush's last trip to the state before the election.

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On the Net:

Kerry campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com

Bush campaign: http://www.georgewbush.com