PALM BEACH, SEPT 12: Republican presidential nominee George W Bush takes his campaign's new slogan and new look to three far-flung states on Tuesday, courting voters in Florida, Missouri and Washington.Seeking to slow his Democratic rival Vice President Al Gore's momentum, the Texas governor will emphasise health care at stops in Orlando, Florida and St Louis, Missouri, two of the battleground states on which the November 7 election is likely to hinge, before landing in Washington state long after dark.Bush has seen his once-commanding lead over Gore evaporate over the last month and recent opinion polls show him running neck-in-neck with Gore, prompting the governor last week to adopt a new slogan - Real Plans for Real People - and a new tactic of talking to voters in informal settings.He begins his day at an Orlando hospital, meeting an elderly couple burdened by massive medical bills that Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said would be largely paid for under the Governor's Medicare proposal, but not under Gore's plan.In a five-day, 7,756-mile trip that will take him through five states with 106 electoral votes this week, the Governor will try sounding themes often struck by the Democrats, including health care, the environment and education."The emphasis will be on showing that Gov Bush is a different kind of Republican by talking about issues traditionally thought of as Democratic," Bush Communications Director Karen Hughes told reporters.Bush is pushing his $198 billion plan to overhaul the Medicare health care system for the elderly and provide them with a prescription drug benefit to defray the rising cost of medicines, sharpening his differences with Gore on the issue.The Vice President would add a $253 billion drug benefit to the existing Medicare system, while Bush would allow seniors to choose among plans and overhaul the Medicare bureaucracy.The issue has resonance for the large elderly population in Florida, the nation's fourth most populous state with 25 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.The three states Bush will visit on Tuesday reflect some ofthe problems, and opportunities, that his campaign faces as it enters the final eight-week sprint to election day.Bush this week has spent the better part of two days inFlorida, a state he was once expected to carry easily in part because of the influence and organisation of its Republican governor, his younger brother Jeb.BRIGHT FACEOfficials from both the Bush and Gore campaigns say theirinternal polling shows that the state is in play, although the Texas governor put a bright face on things on Monday."Don'T blame it on my brother," he told reporters, adding,"We're in good shape here in Florida."Missouri, where Bush is scheduled to meet doctors and otherhospital staff, is among the crucial Midwestern states where U.S. Elections are typically won or lost.Bush spends Tuesday night in Washington, getting up earlyon Wednesday for a speech on the environment, a signature issue for Gore that the governor is trying to make his own.The Bush campaign believes Washington, which has votedDemocratic in the last three presidential elections, is a vulnerable spot for the vice president, who holds a slight advantage in opinion polls in the northwestern state.
