US presidential candidate Mr John Kerry declared solidarity with his election rival President George W Bush after Osama bin Laden issued a surprise statement yesterday. But he criticised his Republican rival's strategy for capturing the al Qaeda leader.
Three days before the election, the Massachusetts senator said he and Mr Bush were united in their determination to hunt down bin Laden, who jolted the race yesterday with a video threatening new violence.
But Mr Kerry refused to back off his long-standing argument that Mr Bush made a big mistake three years ago by failing to send American troops after bin Laden when he was believed to be trapped in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan .
"As Americans, we are absolutely united, all of us - there are no Democrats, there are no Republicans - as Americans, we are united in our determination to destroy, capture, kill Osama bin Laden and all of the terrorists," he said.
Without mentioning the tape directly, Mr Kerry also said the United States still needed "the leadership of our troops and the strategies that make us safe" and promised to do better than Mr Bush on both counts.
"As I have said for two years now, when Osama bin Laden and all Qaeda were cornered in the mountains of Tora Bora, it was wrong to outsource the job of capturing them to Afghan warlords," he told a rally.
The more conciliatory tone today followed Mr Bush's claim last night that Mr Kerry was politicising the issue.
The White House jumped on comments made by Mr Kerry on Friday shortly after the tape appeared accusing Bush of bungling the hunt for bin Laden.
Mr Bush called it "shameful" and White House communications director Mr Dan Bartlett suggested there should have been a pause in such political attacks.
But Mr Bush did not hold back today, blasting what he called Mr Kerry's "propensity to change positions" on national security issues.
He responded to the new threats from bin Laden by telling top aides to take all actions necessary to guard against attacks.
And he cast the election as a stark choice between his "whatever-it-takes" leadership and John Kerry's "cut-and-run" approach. Campaigning in battleground states Mr Bush said Americans were safer but warned that the terrorists "are still dangerous and they are determined."
"The outcome of this election will set the direction of the war against terror.
"Senator Kerry has chosen the path of weakness and inaction ... In times of war and in hours of crisis, Senator Kerry has turned his back on pay-any-price and bear-any-burden, and he's replaced those commitments with wait-and-see," Mr Bush told supporters.
In a bitter and deadlocked campaign, some political analysts believe the bin Laden tape could help Mr Bush by reminding voters of his perceived strength - fighting the war on terror. Others said it could benefit Mr Kerry by reminding them that the al Qaeda leader was still at large and a threat.
Meanwhile polls still provide contradictory pointers to the election outcome.
A Newsweekpoll released today said showed Mr Bush with a 50 - 44 per cent lead over Mr Kerry among likely voters. But a Reuters/Zogby daily tracking poll showed Mr Kerry moving into a 47 to 46 per cent lead.