US: After absorbing a week of attacks on his combat and legislative record, Democratic challenger John Kerry hit back at a midnight rally in Ohio, timed to coincide with the end of the Republican National Convention in New York late on Thursday evening writes Conor O'Clery in New York.
A Time magazine poll last night showed President George Bush soaring ahead of his rival by an astonishing 52 per cent to 41 per cent, a reversal of polls before the convention that showed Mr Kerry with a slight lead.
In his harshest assault on the President, Mr Kerry said Mr Bush was "unfit to lead this nation" because of the war in Iraq and his record on jobs, health care and energy prices. He also hit out at vice president Dick Cheney for not serving in Vietnam and for comments made during the convention about his fitness to occupy the Oval Office.
"For the past week they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief," the Massachusetts senator told a crowd of several thousand in Springfield. "Well here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq."
Neither Mr Bush, who served in the Texas Air national Guard, nor Mr Cheney went to Vietnam. The vice president obtained five deferments and has since said he had "other priorities" at the time.
Mr Kerry volunteered for two tours of duty and won three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star while serving on a gunboat in the Mekong Delta.
He accused Republicans of hiding Mr Bush's "record of failure" behind insults and of not focusing on the "real issues" - creating jobs, improving the economy, expanding access to health care and reducing petrol prices.
"They did everything except talk about that," he said. "We've had insults, we've had anger from Republicans. And I'll tell you why. Because they can't come to you and talk to you about having created jobs since they've lost them. They can't come to you and talk to you about creating health care since five million Americans have lost it. Their own labour secretary talks about exporting jobs overseas," he said.
"They can't talk about their record because it is a record of failure. And so all they do is attack."
Mr Kerry has been under pressure from his party to become more aggressive in his campaign. For three weeks he lost the initiative as a group calling itself the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth made attacks, now discredited, on his conduct in the Vietnam war.
The group is running a new series of ads recalling Kerry's 1971 accusations at a Congressional hearing that US troops committed atrocities in Vietnam.
The midnight stop in Ohio was the first in a hectic schedule that will take the challenger to battleground states in the coming week.
His running mate Senator John Edwards and spouses Teresa Heinz Kerry and Elizabeth Edwards campaigned yesterday in Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan.