ELECTION 2004

BUSH VISIT • Bush tries to tap every last vote • Bush visit photo gallery • Transcript of Bush's remarks • See the video from 9News More Election 2004 headlines

Bush's speech - just 34 hours before polls open in Ohio at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday - was his last attempt to turn out the strong Republican base he needs in Ohio to win its 20 electoral votes.

Republicans need an unprecedented turnout of conservative voters in Southwest Ohio in record numbers to combat the hundreds of thousands of newly registered Democrats in the northern part of the state.

The campaign said it gave out 60,000 tickets and 47,000 attended.

The ballpark holds 43,000 for baseball, but the moon deck, the diamond seats and most of the outfield was empty. A few thousand supporters gathered around the infield.

"America needs strong, determined, optimistic leadership, and I'm ready to get the job done for four more years," Bush said when he took the stage around 8 p.m., speaking from a podium near where second base would be.

"I understand how important it is for the American president to lead with clarity and purpose."

Only occasionally mentioning his opponent by name, he said it's important that the president not "shift with the wind" or govern by polls.

"I think it's fair to say consistency is not his strong suit," he said. "I look at an issue and take a principled position. My opponent looks at an issue and tries to take every side. And the people of Ohio know the difference."

With little to say that hasn't been said in hundreds of campaign speeches over the past year, Bush's focus was mostly on firing up his supporters.

"I want to thank the people who have been putting up the signs, and making the phone calls, and doing the hard work to turn out the vote next Tuesday," Bush told the crowd.

His Hamilton County campaign chairman, Greg Hartmann, called the president the best get-out-the-vote tool a local campaign could ever have.

Stephen White, 20, a political science sophomore at Ohio State University, attended the rally with his uncle, Chuck White of Madisonville.

"This being my first election, I actually feel like I'm a part of it, and the whole atmosphere here makes it 10 times better,'' Stephen White said.

It wasn't just the venue that gave the event a baseball theme. Campaign slogans flashed on scoreboards. Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning, the U.S. senator from Kentucky, met Air Force One at the airport. Reds owner Carl Lindner and broadcaster Marty Brennaman watched from bleachers behind the podium. Hall-of-Famer Johnny Bench gave the introduction.

"It's an honor for me as a catcher to introduce someone who knows how to give the right signals," Bench said. "We must re-elect George Bush for four more years."

Bush was last in the region on Sept. 27, when he led the largest event of the campaign, a rally of 50,000 people at the former Voice of America park in West Chester Township.

Ohio is considered a tossup as the elections comes down to the wire. Both candidates have campaigned extensively in Ohio. Kerry was in Dayton on Sunday morning and returns tonight for a closing rally in Cleveland.

On Fountain Square, several hundred Kerry supporters held a rally Sunday, while hundreds of volunteers went door-to-door in the final weekend of the campaign.

Acknowledging that parents might opt for other activities on Halloween, campaign organizers created a festive atmosphere inside the ballpark. Many children arrived in costumes for games and treats.

Gates to the ballpark opened at 1 p.m. and closed at 6 p.m. Tickets were needed to get in. Strict security procedures were followed at the entrances.

One of the warmup speakers was Joe Deters, Ohio treasurer and Republican write-in candidate for Hamilton County prosecutor.

"We are a mere 50 hours away from re-electing George Bush as president of the United States," Deters said. "Our efforts the next two days are going to make all the difference in this election.''

Rep. Steve Chabot, a Westwood Republican, said the surfacing of an Osama bin Laden tape last week was a reminder at what's at stake in the election.

"George Bush understands that we must destroy the terrorists before they destroy us," Chabot told the audience. "He has not wavered. He has proven he makes decisions based on what is best for the United States, not what's best for the United Nations.

"John Kerry's favorite thing is windsurfing - even his favorite hobby depends on which way the wind blows."

Ohio's status as a swing state in the presidential election has brought Bush to Cincinnati eight times as president, five of them coming this year.

It has also meant an onslaught of political advertising. An Enquirer analysis found that the three major TV stations in Cincinnati received more than $20 million in advertising so far this year.

After the rally, Bush stayed overnight at The Cincinnatian Hotel downtown, and scheduled a sunrise rally today at ABX Air in Wilmington, Ohio.

Bush's itinerary today also includes appearances in Burgettstown, Pa.; Milwaukee; Des Moines and Sioux City in Iowa; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Dallas.

Kerry will campaign in New Hampshire and Florida and conclude with the evening appearance in Cleveland.

His running mate, John Edwards, will be in Cincinnati today. Details of the visit have not been announced.

Bush and Kerry were tied in a newspaper's poll of Ohio voters published Sunday. Kerry led by just eight responses out of 2,880 surveys returned in the mail poll by the Columbus Dispatch, which showed 50 percent favoring Kerry and the Republican president.

The majority of respondents said they disapprove of the job Bush has done as president, in Iraq and with the economy.

Kerry has surged from a 7-point deficit in the newspaper's poll released four weeks ago, before independent candidate Ralph Nader was removed from the Ohio ballot. In that poll, Bush led Kerry 51 percent to 44 percent, with 4 percent of likely voters favoring Nader.

The outcome Tuesday could be swung by newly registered voters, who now represent one of eight voters in Ohio, the Dispatch said. Those voters favored Kerry 2-to-1 in the poll.

The poll was conducted Oct. 20 through Friday. It has a margin of error of 2 percentage points, although sampling error is not the only source of error in any poll. The response rate was 25 percent.

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ReporterMaggie Downs and The Associated Press contributed.