Battleground Iowa; Kerry Attacks Bush on Leadership; Fact Check; Condoleezza Rice's Role; Scare Tactics? - Part 1.

(From CNN News)

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Judy Woodruff, coming to you today from northern north central Iowa, Mason City. Thank you for joining us. This is a state, Iowa, where the Bush and the Kerry campaigns converged today. We are at the Northern Iowa Fairgrounds in Mason City. President Bush held a rally here just a short time ago, while Senator Kerry was appearing in Waterloo, just a little more than an hour's drive away. As you may remember, we recently tagged along with the Kerry campaign in Florida. So, today, we are traveling with the Bush camp.

Now, more on Senator Kerry's attack on the president's leadership.

CNN's Frank Buckley is in Pittsburgh, Kerry's next campaign stop after his speech this morning in Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator Kerry went after President Bush on what polling shows is still a strength for the incumbent president, his ability to lead in Iraq and in the war on terror.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, the president says he's a leader. Well, Mr. President, look behind you. There's hardly anyone there. It's not leadership if we haven't built the strongest alliance possible and if America is going almost alone.

BUCKLEY: Kerry's criticisms coming amid a steady stream of pointed jabs from President Bush on Kerry's national security credentials and on his proposals for Iraq.

KERRY: Last month, I spelled out my specific strategy for how we could be successful. Now President Bush is running around the country trying to claim that my plan is what he's already doing. Well, ladies and gentlemen, he could not be more wrong or more out of touch with reality.

BUCKLEY: Kerry said, for one, he would establish an international advisory group for Iraq that would include key allies and Iraq's neighbors, something Kerry claims Bush cannot do because of the way other countries have been treated by this administration. KERRY: Instead of reaching out to allies to get their help in training Iraqi security forces, which should have been our most urgent priority, this administration issued a new order prohibiting countries that were not part of the original coalition from participating in any reconstruction contracts in Iraq. That's almost like a schoolyard decision. You hit me; therefore, I'm not going to do this -- and things tumble downwards. You learn more in elementary school and high school than they seem to have implied in the conduct of this war.

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BUCKLEY (on camera): Now, later, Senator Kerry will be here in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Mellon University for a rally. As you know, he was just here in Pennsylvania yesterday in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, among the top tier of battleground states.

Another indication of that coming today in a confirmation from the Kerry camp and from Bill Clinton's office that President Clinton is coming to Pennsylvania on Monday to appear at a joint rally with Senator Kerry in Philadelphia on Monday. President Clinton of course recovering from quadruple bypass surgery, but clearly the hottest rock star in the Democratic Party and someone who the Democrats believe can remind voters of the prosperity of the '90s, fire up the base, and also reach across the aisle to moderate, to swing voters, to soft Republicans, people who might consider voting for John Kerry with Bill Clinton at his side -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: I know the Kerry people wish they could get Bill Clinton to do even more than those visits to Pennsylvania, but it looks like that's not going to happen because of the time it's taking him to recover.

All right, Frank Buckley traveling with John Kerry now in Pittsburgh -- Frank, thank you very much.

Well, Bush and Kerry covered similar ground in more ways than one today. They both exchanged words about Iraq and about the war on terror. You just heard some of it.

Our White House correspondent Dana Bash is on…