Kerry Tries to Persuade Voters It's Time for a New Commander in Chief

John Kerry intensified his efforts to persuade Americans to change their commander in chief yesterday, saying he would move more swiftly on national security than President George Bush, and promising to lessen the burden on US forces in Iraq.

The focus on security came on a day when Washington issued unusually detailed warning of a possible al-Qaida terrorist attack on financial institutions in the US.

The homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge, said intelligence agencies had identified five potential targets of an al-Qaida truck or car bombing: the IMF and World Bank headquarters in Washington, the New York stock exchange and the Citicorp building in New York, and the Prudential Bache building in Newark, New Jersey.

The heightened state of alert is the most specific warning since the September 11 attacks, and deepens the focus on national security.

Aides to Mr Bush said he could respond as early as today to the conclusions of the congressional commission investigating the September 11 attacks, which called for sweeping reforms to intelligence gathering.

Mr Kerry, the Democratic party's presidential challenger, appears determined to put his points across before Mr Bush returns to the campaign bus tomorrow.

Reacting to the administration's initially cool response to the commission's central recommendation for a White House intelligence tsar, Mr Kerry said America needed a more proactive leader.

"What America wants is leadership that's ahead of the curve, that doesn't have to be told by an independent commission - which they, incidentally, fought to prevent," he told Fox television.

The theme of national security ran through Mr Kerry's appearances on the morning television shows yesterday as he worked hard to capitalise on his military credentials at last week's Democratic convention.

Apart from swift action at home, he promised that a Democratic administration would lead to more friends for the US abroad, improving its standing in the world and reducing the burden on its 140,000-strong force in Iraq.

The key words for Mr Kerry were "fresh start", which he claimed would repair relationships with European and Arab states and make Nato allies more willing to send forces to Iraq.

"I think a fresh start for America, a new president with a new credibility, has the capacity to bring people to the table who are not there today," he told CBS television.

"I know that I can do a better job of providing a rationale for those countries to understand their stake in the outcome and I believe we can put together a very different kind of alliance."

He promised that he would send no additional troops to Iraq and, for the first time, that he would reduce the level of the force during the first term of his administration.

"I will have significant, enormous reduction in the level of troops," he told ABC television.

"If the diplomacy that I believe can be put in place can work, I think we can significantly change the deployment of troops, not just there, but elsewhere in the world; in the Korean peninsula, perhaps; in Europe, perhaps."

The intensity of campaigning marked a departure from election etiquette, which normally requires a holiday hiatus in August. In this year's heated atmosphere an extended break could be fatal to either contender.

According to a Newsweek poll, Mr Kerry's speech to the Democratic convention gave him a four-point lift, boosting his standing to 49%, compared to 42% for Mr Bush.

However, a post-nomination poll by CNN and USA Today gave Mr Bush the advantage, leading Mr Kerry by 50% to 47%.

That was still too close to comfort for Mr Bush, who is going to use the days ahead to lay out his second term agenda before the Republican convention at the end of the month.