Oakland will host dueling senators, and dueling Super Bowlers this morning as Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., ends a week of campus visits with a rally at the University of Pittsburgh.

The Kerry rally will be held on Bigelow Boulevard between Fifth and Forbes Avenue. That block, separating the Cathedral of Learning and the William Pitt Student Union, will be closed to traffic until late afternoon.

The soon-to-be Democratic nominee will be preceded on stage by the singer Bon Jovi.

Anyone wishing to attend will have to pass through security. The site will open at 9:30 a.m., with the event getting under way by about 10:30 a.m.

Kerry, who will be accompanied by his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, and former Steelers all-pro Franco Harris, is expected to speak shortly after 11 a.m.

Unwilling to cede the campus to the Democrats, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., will host a rally for the Bush-Cheney campaign in David Lawrence Hall across Forbes Avenue from the Democratic event. He will be joined by Harris' teammate, Lynn Swann, and U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods. The GOP festivities will get under way at 9:30.

GOP stars will continue to fall on Pittsburgh through the weekend, as Vice President Dick Cheney speaks to the National Rifle Association convention Downtown tomorrow evening, and President Bush arrives on Monday to raise money for U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, who is being challenged for renomination by Rep. Pat Toomey, R-Allentown.

Kerry will head Downtown after his campus appearance for a $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser at the Omni William Penn Hotel. From there, he and Gov. Ed Rendell will fly to Philadelphia for another rally in pursuit of the state's 21 electoral votes.