Morris says debates are quandry for Kerry

NEW YORK, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Former Clinton political consultant Dick Morris said Wednesday that Democratic nominee John F. Kerry's focus on Iraq may backfire in the upcoming debate.

Writing in the New York Post, Morris said all President George W. Bush has to do to "decisively" win Thursday's debate with Kerry is, "state his position on the issues of terrorism, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran and the myriad threats we face."

"For some inexplicable reason," Morris said, Kerry "has chosen to attack Bush on these very issues," which the former political strategist and television commentator said are Bush's strongest points.

Bush enters the debate empowered because, Morris said, "Virtually all of his own voters agree with his positions on these vital issues (and) about one in three Kerry voters also approves of Bush's policy in these regions."

Kerry, in Morris' analysis, "endangers his hold on his own voters every time he attacks Bush's conduct of the war on terror and the battle in Iraq," the issues on which the Democrat has chosen to close out his presidential campaign.