Kerry Campaign Says Middle Class Hurting
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
FROM:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040615/ap_on_el_pr/kerry&cid=536&ncid=536WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites)'s campaign issued a report Monday that says the middle class is still struggling under lower incomes, debt and higher household costs despite recent job growth.
With President Bush (news - web sites) touting nearly 1.2 million jobs created this year, Kerry will try to blunt his rival's good news by focusing over the next two weeks on economic problems affecting families, beginning with stops in New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan.
Bush's re-election campaign said the economy is growing, and that Kerry chooses to focus on the negative in a "misery tour." Bush is running a television ad that makes the same point and says of Kerry: "Pessimism never created a job."
Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said the economy and the manufacturing sector are growing at the fastest rates in 20 years and home ownership is at a record high. But economic numbers can be sliced different ways, and the Kerry campaign is focusing on the 1.6 million households that filed for bankruptcy last year; increasing costs for health insurance, child care, gas and tuition; and overall job losses.
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