Bush, Kerry in Dead Heat; America's Voting System at Risk - Part 1.

(From CNN News)

Byline: Allan Chernoff

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, it's a dead heat. President Bush and Senator Kerry are statistically tied. Both candidates today launched a final push to win votes. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our goal is not to reduce terror to some acceptable level of nuisance. Our goal is to defeat terror. (END VIDEO CLIP)

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SEN. JOHN K. KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Instead of standing up for you, George Bush has chosen secret meetings with the energy industry. (END VIDEO CLIP)

DOBBS: And Democracy at Risk. Tonight, a dramatic warning about the vulnerability of our national voting system. Is it a Third-World voting system? My guest is John Fund, author of "Stealing Our Elections." Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana held up a massive corporate tax bill to help our Reservists and National Guard troops. She's my guest tonight. And dozens of ordinary Americans are so frustrated with the state of our government, they've decided to run for office. Tonight, a small business owner running for Congress because he's upset about the export of American jobs. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK DAVIS, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: I am on a mission to save American jobs, farms and industry. (END VIDEO CLIP)

DOBBS: Tonight, we begin our week-long special report Driven to Run. ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Monday, October 11. Here now for an hour of news, debate and opinion is Lou Dobbs. DOBBS: Good evening. Tonight, just 22 days before the election, President Bush and Senator Kerry are in a dead heat. The latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll says both candidates have 48 percent support among registered voters. Among likely voters, Senator Kerry has a 1 percent lead. These dramatic poll numbers come only two days before the third and final so-called presidential debate. From Washington, Bill Schneider tonight reports on this latest poll; from Denver, Dana Bash reports on the Bush campaign; and from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Ed Henry covering the Kerry campaign. To Dana Bash in Denver first -- Dana. DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, the president's campaign's plans were for him to focus on domestic issues this week, but when Bush aides saw what they view as a Kerry gaff on terrorism, they shifted gears. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH (voice-over): Jumping on John Kerry's suggestion terrorism should be reduced to the level of a nuisance, the president told supporters in New Mexico the senator doesn't get it. BUSH: Our goal is not to reduce terror to some acceptable level of nuisance. Our goal is to defeat terror by staying on the offensive, destroying terrorist networks and spreading freedom and liberty around the world. BASH: In a state he lost by just 366 votes, Mr. Bush was seizing on a Kerry quote from this weekend's "New York Times" saying, "We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance. "As a law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling," going on to say, "It's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of you life." Political manna from heaven for Bush campaign officials saying for months Senator Kerry's weakness is treating terrorism as a law- enforcement problem, not an outright war. ANNOUNCER: How can Kerry protect us when he doesn't understand the threat?

BASH: So an instant Bush ad. RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is naive and dangerous. BASH: And an echo from the vice president campaigning in New Jersey, a solid Kerry state until several polls showing the president gaining ground and a state that lost some 700 residents on 9/11. CHENEY: This is all part a pre-9/11 mindset, and it is a view we cannot go back to. BASH: Camp Kerry shot back: The…