Kerry says Bush has forgotten 9/11 heroes

With 14 victories in the first 16 contests, Kerry is in firm command of the Democratic race to challenge Bush. Opinion polls have also showed him the prohibitive favourite in Wisconsin where he is leading nearest rival Howard Dean by double digit margins.

Deriding Bush as ‘‘the worst President for jobs in this country since Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression,’’ Kerry said the consequence was written in more than just the 75,000-plus jobs lost in Wisconsin over the past three years. ‘‘It is written … in the countless number of victims seeing their pensions blown away because of the Enrons and WorldComs and an entire creed of greed that has been licensed by Bush.’’

With several hundred Union members chanting ‘‘Send Bush to Mars’’, Kerry said the President had failed to live up to his commitment to firefighters, police officers, emergency medical personnel and other Union members who sacrificed in the aftermath of 9/11. ‘‘I’m tired of these politicians who show up when the bagpipes are wailing and the flags are at half-staff and they talk about heroes in America,’’ Kerry said. ‘‘And then when they go back to Washington, the flags are at full-staff again and the bagpipes have stopped playing, they forget.’’

Kerry and Gephardt appeared with leaders of the Alliance for Economic Justice, a coalition of 19 unions representing 5 million workers. On Thursday, Kerry will receive the backing of the AFL-CIO, an umbrella labour organisation of 64 unions with 13 million members. —(Reuters)