ELECTION 2004

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"We wanted to celebrate what will be George Bush's last visit to Cincinnati as president," said Corey Ealons, spokesman for the Kerry-Edwards campaign in Southwest Ohio.

"When the president speaks to his supporters at Great American Ball Park, you can be sure that he won't be talking about the jobs lost in this state and the growing numbers of Ohioans who are losing health insurance," Ealons said.

Many of the supporters carried signs that read, "I Am Not A Myth."

That was a reference to U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow's recent comment that dire statements about the economy are a "myth."

Jerome Hudson, 44, of Lytle Towers, downtown, said he supports Kerry because of what he believes is deception on the part of Bush about the war in Iraq.

Another person at the rally, Jose Adams, 39, Over-the-Rhine, disagrees with Bush on the way the country went to war.

"I think that John Kerry has a better solution for better managing the war in Iraq,'' said Adams. "I think it's outrageous the way President Bush has treated our allies, and he went into war without any kind of exit strategy.''

The crowd included musician Peter Frampton, who lives in Indian Hill, and a roster of local Democratic politicians, including state Sen. Mark Mallory.

Kerry began his Sunday morning the same way he has most weeks in the past month - at a predominately black church in Ohio.

This time, Kerry was on the west side of Dayton, the same neighborhood where his running mate rallied supporters last week after attending church in Bond Hill. In fact, Kerry stopped at that very same school to toss a football around between his church visits.

Kerry's first stop was at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Angels near the University of Dayton campus, where he attended Mass. It was the first time Kerry, a Catholic, took communion in the Cincinnati archdiocese since a controversy erupted this year over some American bishops threatening to refuse communion to politicians who support abortion rights.

An hour later at the Shiloh Baptist Church, Kerry gave a 13-minute speech from the pulpit in which he quoted his favorite scripture verse from James - "Faith without works is dead" - but appealed to people of all denominations.

"There is a standard by which we have to live," Kerry said. "Coming to church on Sundays and talking about faith and professing faith isn't the whole deal.

Without naming his opponent, he said, "I hear them talk about family values, but I don't see them valuing families the way they ought to be."

After church, Kerry stopped for breakfast at the Golden Nugget Pancake House before flying to Manchester, N.H.

He'll return to Ohio today for 11th-hour rallies in Cleveland and Toledo.

Running mate John Edwards campaigned in Columbus Sunday, and will fly into Lunken Airport today to campaign in Cincinnati.

Kerry stopped briefly at Dunbar High School, where he shed his coat, but not his tie, and tossed a football with some aides.

At Shiloh Baptist Church, Kerry made brief remarks reflecting mostly on the influence of religion on his life. He spoke about growing up Catholic and being an altar boy. He said he "had a lot of questions" for God when he served in Vietnam, watching friends die.

"Anybody who's been through war knows how to pray," he said.

Good faith cannot be without good deeds, he said, and, "What you do unto the least among us, you do onto the Lord himself."

Kerry introduced Edna Phillips of Vandalia, who is 93 and said she registered to vote for the first time ever to vote for Kerry.

Kerry said it is wrong that programs that help the poor, such as Head Start, are being cut and children are going without health care, while the rich get richer.

"This is the choice," he said.

Shiloh's Rev. Selwyn Bachus compared Kerry running against President Bush to David facing Goliath.

"The bible says that David defeats Goliath," Bachus told his congregation. "We're going to see that on Sunday. Amen!"

Bachus three times mistakenly referred to Kerry as "Senator (Ted) Kennedy." Kerry good-naturedly excused Bachus' error and told the congregation that his fellow Massachusetts senator has even introduced him as "Senator John Kennedy."

Cox News Service contributed. E-mail mleingang@enquirer.com