Back in prep school, George W. Bush was the head cheerleader, known for reviving the squad that led Andover Academy students in chants and yells for the teams fighting for the old blue and white.

	Martha Rial, Post-Gazette President Bush takes the stage for his final rally in Pennsylvania at the Post-Gazette Pavilion yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

As he embarked on the last day of his last campaign, the president showed once again that he is his own best cheerleader. The guy knows how to work a crowd.

With his conversational, just-us-folks delivery, he made stale stump lines seem almost new, stirring passionate cheers and waves of applause from the thousands of Republican partisans crammed under the roof of the Post-Gazette Pavilion in Burgettstown.

"We are living in historic times and a lot is at stake in this election," Bush said on a chilly Washington County morning. "The future safety and prosperity of America are on the ballot."

After months of campaigning and thousands of speeches, Bush appeared enthused and energetic, occasionally chuckling at his own lines, cocking his head appreciatively at the laughter and applause of his audience.

Bush took some familiar shots at his rival, Sen. John F. Kerry, criticizing and sometimes caricaturing his positions on issues including taxes, health care and partial birth abortion. Revisiting the Democrat's greatest rhetorical gift to his campaign, Bush recalled Kerry's words on a vote against a supplemental appropriation for the war in Iraq.

	Martha Rial, Post-Gazette Kelli Ford, of Monongahela, bows her head during the invocation before President Bush's campaign rally yesterday at the Post-Gazette Pavilion. Click photo for larger image.

"He entered the flip-flop hall of fame by saying.... 'I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it,' " Bush said.

As he spoke, the crowd, anticipating the practiced jab, nearly drowned Bush out with chants of, "Flip-flop, flip-flop."

Kerry has defended that vote, saying that he was for the basic notion of added funding but balked at the fact that the administration would not help pay for it by adjusting its tax cuts.

But for all those criticisms, Bush's speech yesterday lacked the sting and biting personal tone that had emerged in several previous speeches in the last week.

Bush reached for a more uplifting tone as he said, "I'm excited about election day and I'm optimistic about the future of this country."

"I see a great day coming for America," he said later. "I see a day where prosperity reaches every corner of this country. I see a day where every child is able to read and write and add and subtract. I see a day in which this world becomes more peaceful so our children and our grandchildren can grow up in the peace we all want."

But Bush acknowledged that world was not at hand as he strove to put the best face on the continuing violence in Iraq after another week of car bombings, and kidnaps and as U.S. forces were reportedly poised for a renewed assault on the insurgent Sunni stronghold of Fallujah .

"Iraq is still dangerous," Bush said. "That's because that country is headed toward democracy. There will be elections in Iraq in January. Think how far that country has come from the days of torture chambers and mass graves."

Bush's last visit to Pennsylvania was the 44th of his administration, the 22nd since March of this year. It underscored the already obvious fact that Pennsylvania is one of the most coveted prizes in today's balloting, ranking with Florida and Ohio at the top of the campaign battlegrounds. Recent public polls are consistently close, giving both sides hope of capturing the state's 21 electoral votes. Former Vice President Al Gore won Pennsylvania four years ago, but Bush and his campaign have worked tirelessly to reverse that result this time.

Before returning three times in the final week of the campaign, he had already visited the state more often than any other except his Texas home.

"We think we can make an impact, energize our supporters," said Scott Stanzel, a Bush press secretary, as he listened to his candidate's address. "We've said all along [Pennsylvania is] very competitive. The president would not be here if we didn't think we could carry it."

It's in any campaign operative's interest to project an appearance of confidence in the last hours of a campaign. Matthew Dowd, chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney campaign tried to stoke that appearance of confidence with a memo distributed yesterday, contending that poll numbers and history project a re-election victory.

Dowd noted that in the last 48 hours, the average of major national polls depicts Bush with a two-point lead in the popular vote -- 48 percent to 46 percent.

Democrats argue that those same numbers portray vulnerability. They cite an overall polling trend in which undecided voters tend to break away from an incumbent on Election Day. With that in mind, the Democrats say, any number less than 50 percent spells trouble for the president.

Dowd argued, however, that the trend in recent presidential elections was that late-deciding voters tended to split evenly between incumbent and challenger. That would be good news for Bush.

From Burgettstown, Bush went on to Milwaukee, where his motorcade literally crossed paths with Kerry's, and then on to Des Moines and Sioux City, Iowa; Albuquerque, N.M., and finally to his Texas home.

Before touching down in Washington County, Bush began his day with an airport rally in Wilmington, Ohio.

Bush won Ohio four years ago, but polls and analysts see the state as a toss-up today. Bush's other stops yesterday, except for his Texas finale, were in states that Gore won narrowly four years ago.