Bush and Kerry Divided on Most Issues

WASHINGTON -- Never mind the old centrist talk of George W. Bush as a compassionate conservative or the new centrist talk of John Kerry as a nuanced lawmaker who always sees both sides. In action, these men represent the core of their parties, or at least enough of it to offer voters crisp choices in the fall.

With the Democratic primary race decided, Kerry can be expected to edge away from the rhetoric his party's activists on the left most want to hear, and engage President Bush in a great battle for the middle. Already, he's begun branding some of his plans as a middle-class tax cut, and on Wednesday he rolled out a "tax fairness" package.

But when the dust settles, it will remain a good bet that income taxes will be lower overall in a Bush administration than in a Kerry one, that Kerry will do more to push for health insurance than the Republican, and that the social issues of the day will be tackled along familiar ideological lines no matter who wins.

Take abortion. Kerry says flatly he'll only nominate Supreme Court justices who agree with his views in favor of abortion rights. Bush, who's had no Supreme Court vacancies to fill, opposes most abortion rights and has a record of putting forward conservative judges for lower benches.

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Policy Positions of Bush and Kerry

A sampling of policy positions of Republican President Bush and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry:

ABORTION

Bush: Opposes abortion rights except in cases of rape or incest or when a woman's life is endangered.

Kerry: Supports abortion rights and would only nominate Supreme Court justices who share that view.

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