The Democratic Party's presidential nominee, Mr Al Gore, stuck to specifics at the weekend as he travelled through America's heartland on the Mississippi river buoyed by a new poll suddenly showing him leading in the race for the White House.
Mr Gore pushed his election-year agenda at riverside rallies, speaking on matters from healthcare to education, as his aides buzzed excitedly about a Newsweek poll showing the Vice-President erasing Gov George W. Bush's double-digit lead in recent days.
Shortly after the new numbers were released, Mr Gore made his first visit to the newsroom aboard his campaign river boat in two days and said: "I really don't think polls matter."
"People are now just beginning to pay close attention to the election," he said, adding with a grin: "I'm beginning to think that the polls have a little more relevancy as we get closer to the election."
The Newsweek poll, released on Saturday, showed that Mr Gore, who had been trailing Gov Bush by double-digit margins in a number of surveys less than two weeks ago, got a big bounce out of the Democratic National Convention, which concluded on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
The survey of 806 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points, showed him winning the support of 52 per cent of respondents against Gov Bush's 44 per cent in a two-way race. The poll was conducted before and after Mr Gore accepted the nomination with a speech outlining his plans for the nation's future.
In a hypothetical four-way race, Mr Gore was also ahead, by 48 per cent to 42 per cent, with 3 percent for Green Party candidate Mr Ralph Nader and 1 per cent for Reform Party candidate Mr Patrick Buchanan.
"Super," said Mr Greg Simon, a senior Gore adviser, when told of the new Newsweek numbers. "We are cautiously exhilarated.
"We have always felt that once people get to see Al Gore as our party's candidate and listen to what he wants to do as president, we'd be in good shape," Mr Simon said. "As far as we are concerned, the real campaign began on Thursday night."
Bush spokesman Mr Scott McClellan, asked about the survey as the Republican nominee campaigned in Las Cruces, New Mexico, responded: "Like we've said all along, let's see where things are around Labour Day. This is to be expected after the [Democratic] convention."
An overnight NBC poll of 500 registered voters released early on Friday also had Mr Gore up, while a Voter.com Battle Ground Poll of 1,000 voters, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, had him cutting Gov Bush's lead to five percentage points from 10 points the day before.
Candidates traditionally get a big bounce from their party's convention, just as Gov Bush and his running mate, Mr Dick Cheney, did from the Republican gala in Philadelphia. But such post-convention gains are often short-lived.
Having essentially conceded he cannot match Gov Bush's charisma, Mr Gore is pressing voters to decide the election on the issues. In his acceptance speech on Thursday night, he got specific when he spelled out what he would do if elected president. He has stuck with that theme on the river.
At a rally in Bellevue, Iowa that drew more than half the community's 2,200 residents, Mr Gore said: "The presidency is not a personality contest. It's a dayby-day fight for real people with real challenges. I want to fight for you."
At riverside rallies in the past few days, Mr Gore has spread the word about his agenda. Ms Georgette O'Brien, among scores of members of the United Food and Commercial Workers' Union who attended the rally on Saturday, said: "Al Gore is starting to catch on. A week ago, a lot of people here today wouldn't have bothered to show up. But people are now starting to see him as someone who can deliver."
Mr Gore's running mate, Sen Joe Lieberman, the first Jew to feature on a major-party ticket, left the riverboat after its stop in Genoa, Wisconsin to observe the Jewish Sabbath, which begins on Friday evening. He was to return yesterday when the boat stops in Moline, Illinois. The four-day river trip will end today in Hannibal, Missouri, home town of writer Mark Twain.