Kerry attacks Bush over outsourcing

Bush and Kerry shadowed each other, swapping barbs in vote-rich battleground states hit by severe job losses.

US President George W Bush and his Democratic challenger John Kerry shadowed each other, swapping barbs in vote-rich battleground states hit by severe job losses.

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Riding a modest bounce in the polls after his party's national convention in Boston, Kerry ripped into Bush's economic record and mocked the President's campaign slogan about the country "turning the corner."

"Let me ask you ... If you're one of those whose job pays 9,000 dollars less than the job you lost overseas, are you turning the corner?" Kerry asked a rain-soaked rally in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, yesterday.

"I don't want to run talking about 'turning the corner.' I'm running to climb the mountain and get to the top," he said.

Bush, meanwhile, was in Canton, Ohio, seeking to push his positive outlook on the economy in a state that has lost more than 2,00,000 jobs since March 2001.

Vowing to protect US trade interests, Bush called on China to loosen its currency's decade-old peg to the dollar which has helped fuel China's massive 124 billion dollar trade surplus with the United States.

At the same time, Kerry was arguing in Greenburg that the Bush administration was encouraging the outflow of American jobs to other countries, by refusing to close tax loopholes for companies outsourcing their work.

Democrats see the issue of job losses as the key to victory in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.