US Presidential candidate Senator John Kerry said the country was on the verge of a "magical moment," displaying confidence and a burst of energy as he campaigned to the finish on election eve.
The Massachusetts senator held brief, punchy rallies in Florida and Wisconsin before heading to Michigan and Ohio today. In Milwaukee, he cracked jokes and bounded off the stage to high-five a boy pressed at the front of the crowd under a cold, steady rain.
"A little rain like this is nothing compared to what old George Bush has been doing for the last four years, so we can do it," Kerry said. Then he led the crowd in a chant. "One more day! One more day!"
Gone was the drawn, seemingly tired Kerry who has been campaigning across the country nonstop for five weeks, sometimes silencing his initially rowdy supporters with lengthy speeches full of facts and figures. But Kerry said it was not a day for a long speech.
"You all know why you are here, and you know the job we have to get done in the next hours," Kerry told supporters gathered at the Orlando airport to see his plane off from his final campaign stop in Florida.
"This is the moment of accountability for America," Kerry said. "All of the hopes and dreams of our country are on the line today. The choice is clear."
In an interview broadcast today on CBS' "The Early Show," Kerry said voters should reject Republican charges that he's not tough enough to take charge, and he recalled his own Vietnam experience.
"When I turned my boat in Vietnam into an ambush and I went straight into the ambush and overran it, I didn't see George Bush or Dick Cheney at my side," Kerry said. "So I'm not going to take a second seat to anybody in my willingness to be tough to defend the United States of America. I did it when it mattered, and as president I will defend the United States of America with everything I have."
In Milwaukee, a crowd of about 5,000 waved soggy campaign signs that displayed the number one in the countdown of days to the election.
"This is a kind of magical moment that we get to in the last hours of the most blessed gift on the face of the planet, our democracy, your vote," Kerry said. "You get to choose and change the direction of this country. And tomorrow, the choice of a lifetime is on that ballot."
He thanked Wisconsin for the Green Bay Packers' win over the Washington Redskins Sunday night. The crowd cheered, many aware that a Redskins loss in the team's last home game before the election has predicted an incumbent loss for nearly 70 years. Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl, a Democrat who also owns the Milwaukee Bucks, stood at Kerry's side.
"He was telling me that when it comes to the Milwaukee Bucks, he always goes for the taller player," said Kerry, who is five inches taller than Bush. "And he said the same thing holds for being president of the United States, a taller player."
Kerry planned to spend the night in La Crosse, Wis., and to make an appearance there on Election Day before returning to Boston for his Election Day tradition - lunch at the Union Oyster House. He planned a series of satellite interviews to battleground states and a celebration outside at Copley Square.
AP