Political Heavyweights stump hard in the Philadelphia region

PHILADELPHIA -- Political and celebrity heavy hitters were in the Delaware Valley Wednesday fighting for the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.
President George W. Bush, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Teresa Heinz Kerry all visited the region around Philadelphia, as well as some top entertainers.

Bush campaigned in Lancaster, Pa., Wednesday with strong messages about the war on terrorism.

The president talked about the government's duty to support its military. Bush said that he had had good support when he asked for $87 billion in supplemental funding for our troops overseas, except for a few senators.

"Only four members of the United States Senate voted to authorize the use of force and then voted against providing the funding for our troops in combat. Only four, including my opponent and his running mate," Bush said.

For the first time, Bush spoke publicly about the missing explosives in Iraq. He told supporters that the military is investigating a number of possible scenarios including one in which the explosives could have been removed before the U.S. military even arrived at the site.

Clinton led a pair of campaign rallies Wednesday afternoon -- at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pa., and at Pinn Memorial Baptist Church in Philadelphia.

Theresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry, visited Harrisburg and Allentown. She reiterated that America, under the Bush-Cheney administration, is going in the wrong direction. She said her husband has a plan to put the country and Pennsylvania back on the right track to make us stronger at home and respected in the world.

In north Philadelphia, musicians P.Diddy Combs and Mary J. Blige went to Temple University for their "Vote or Die" campaign.