Goose and chocolate on menu as candidates hunt votes

George Bush and his Democratic challenger continued to hunt for crucial votes in the country's battleground states yesterday. John Kerry also found time to hunt geese.

George Bush and his Democratic challenger continued to hunt for crucial votes in the country's battleground states yesterday. John Kerry also found time to hunt geese.

As part of an effort to try to portray the patrician Mr Kerry as a "regular guy", the Massachusetts senator allowed himself to be photographed returning from a two-hour, pre-dawn wildfowl shooting expedition in Boardman, Ohio. Newly minted regular guy he may be, but Mr Kerry still had someone else carry the one goose that he claimed to have shot.

"In addition to substantively closing the argument, we want people to have a better sense of John Kerry the guy," a senior adviser, Mike McCurry, told reporters.

Mr Bush was in nearby Pennsylvania, stopping in the city of Downingtown for his 40th speaking engagement in the state, which carries 21 electoral votes. Later today he will speak in Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of the chocolate bar.

Members of his cabinet were also working key states. The Kerry campaign complained this week about the number of speeches being given by the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice. Her predecessors, along with most national security officials, have tended to keep low profiles during election campaigns.

A poll released yesterday by the Pew Research Centre showed Mr Bush and Mr Kerry are tied at 45 per cent each among registered voters and 47 per cent each among likely voters.