Bush, Kerry roll out star-studded parade of supporters

Bush on Friday will roll out in Columbus, Ohio, baseball pitching ace Curt Schilling, fresh off a thrilling championship run by the Boston Red Sox, and Hollywood star-cum California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The incumbent president is trying to recapture the initiative after being force on his heels by Kerry's offensive over the disappearance of nearly 400 tons of high explosives in Iraq.

Kerry, fronted by rock legend Bruce Springsteen, mustered Thursday the biggest rally of his presidential drive when some 80,000 people turned out to rock with the Democrat and The Boss in Wisconsin, adding high-octane harmonics to the campaign.

As usual, Iraq provided the fodder for a new round on rhetoric Thursday as the Democzatic senator from Massachusetts, stumping in the critical state of Ohio, said the Republican's buck-passing refusal to own up to responsibility made him an unfit tenant of the Oval Office.

"The president's shifting explanations and excuses and attacks on me demonstrate once again that this president believes the buck stops everywhere but with the president of the United States," he said.