Gore, Bush trade shots in duel of battlegrounds

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Al Gore and George W. Bush are intensifying their struggle for battleground swing states, with Gore criticizing his rival's tax proposals and Bush focusing on credibility. Bush also announced a plan he said would ''put government back on the side of parents.''

The proposal, released in Detroit, included plans to make workplace compensatory time easier to take, to give parents flexibility to work from home and to help parents protect children from inappropriate online and television content.

Still sharpening differences drawn at their first debate, both men were stumping in Michigan Thursday after making separate campaign forays into Ohio on Wednesday.

Gore is emphasizing his contention that Bush would fritter away the budget surplus on tax breaks for the rich. At the same time, Gore is touting his own child care tax credit proposal.

Bush also talked about children's issues in Detroit, where he proposed to amend federal law by allowing private sector employees to take 1.5 hours of comp time for every hour of overtime worked. Under his proposal, employers would be prohibited from pressuring workers to take comp time instead of overtime pay. Employers would be required to reimburse workers in cash for any unused comp time.

The plan also would require libraries and schools that receive federal funding to install Internet filters, and would encourage broadcasters to air ''family oriented'' programming from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Gore traveled to an inner-city child care center to tout his proposal to give tax credits for daycare expenses and to rip into Bush.

''For every dollar that I propose to spend on education, my opponent, Governor Bush, proposes to spend $5 on a tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent,'' Gore said. ''That's a fact and cannot be refuted. Those are the wrong priorities.''

At a noisy downtown rally before 10,000 cheering backers, Gore argued the election offered stark choices.

''It's not about politics, it's not about personalities, it's about priorities,'' Gore said.

He was making his proposal in former President Ford's home town, a reliably Republican region. Aides said internal surveys show a slice of the region's electorate to be open to Gore's message, and cutting the margin of loss in western Michigan could throw the state into their camp.

Bush also continued to underscore ''exaggerations and embellishments'' that he says call Gore's character into question.

''This is a man - he's got a record, you know, of sometimes exaggerating to make a point,'' said Bush.

Bush pointed to comments Gore made about a disaster inspection trip and a Florida schoolgirl who had to stand in a crowded classroom.

The girl did have to stand - but only for the first day of class, when there were not enough desks in the room, not longer as Gore implied. The campaign said Gore learned of the incident in a letter from the girl's father, who asked him to address overcrowding in the debate. Neither the letter nor a local newspaper article on the girl pointed out that she was forced to stand for only a day.

And the vice president did not actually accompany the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on a trip to Texas, as he said, but did make his own trip to see the damage.

Gore, rallying a crowd in Warren, a Democratic stronghold, scolded Bush. ''I think it's time to make our country an even better country instead of trying to make another candidate out to be a bad person,'' Gore said.

While Bush sought to focus on character, Gore said the key campaign issue is who would benefit most from rival campaign proposals.

On Thursday, Bush began airing a new TV commercial offering a sweeping outline of his philosophy. The 60-second ad will air in 19 states.

Both Ohio and Michigan are big industrial states in a region likely to settle the election, and polls show both states are competitive.

The two sides were keeping up their scheduling mirror later in the week, both heading to Florida before a weekend of preparations for the next debate.