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(Kerry Paints Stark Contrast Between Dean And Himself)
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"We need more than simple answers and the slip of the tongue," Mr. Kerry said. "Our world is complicated, and the challenges we face demand a president who knows what he's saying and knows where America needs to go."
He reminded an avid crowd in Manchester that Dr. Dean had commended the capture of Saddam Hussein one day then on the next asserted that it did not make America any safer. "It raises serious doubts about both his realism and resolve," Mr. Kerry said.
"When he spreads unfounded rumors about the administration having prior warnings of Sept. 11 and then passes it off because someone had posted it on the Internet, it leaves Americans questioning judgment and sense of responsibility," Mr. Kerry added.
"After every episode comes a statement trying to explain it away," he said. "So we're left asking, will Americans really vote for a foreign policy by clarifying press release?"
Dr. Dean, the former Vermont governor, declined to respond to Mr. Kerry's comments or to take any questions from national reporters as he campaigned across Iowa with Representative Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the third-ranking Democrat in the House and the only member of the party's leadership who is not backing Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri.
But Sarah Leonard, a spokeswoman for the Dean campaign, said, "What you're seeing is a career politician desperate to save his political career."
"How can the governor respond to every attack when they can't even get their attacks straight?" Ms. Leonard said, pointing out that the Kerry campaign had criticized Dr. Dean in recent weeks both for being antiwar and for not being consistently antiwar. "John Kerry says he has the experience to ask the tough questions. Then why didn't he ask the tough questions, why did he just vote for the war?"
In Dr. Dean's latest bit of trouble, a New Hampshire newspaper, The Concord Monitor, quoted him on Friday as saying, "I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials."
Later Friday, Dr. Dean told The Associated Press: "As a president, I would have to defend the process of the rule of law. But as an American, I want to make sure he gets the death penalty he deserves." Later he issued a statement calling this "exactly the kind of case that the death penalty is meant for."
On Saturday, Dr. Dean's rivals pounced. Mr. Gephardt issued a statement saying those remarks called into question Dr. Dean's electability. "When you're in a debate with the president of the United States, there are no do-overs," he said.
In a telephone interview, Mr. Gephardt added: "I don't see how we can beat George Bush with statements like that — it won't make sense to the American people."
In his speech, Mr. Kerry took a similar tack.
"What kind of muddled thinking is it if you can't instantly say that in your heart you know Osama bin Laden is guilty, should be tried in the U.S., and given the maximum punishment?" Mr. Kerry said. "I tell you, you don't have to listen too carefully to hear the sound of Champagne corks popping in Karl Rove's office. Someone who talks like this is going to have a hard time convincing the American people that he can keep them safe."
Much of Mr. Kerry's speech was a rebuke of Dr. Dean's own attacks on centrists like himself and on Democrats in Congress.
"No, we can't beat George Bush by being `Bush lite,' " he said, using Dr. Dean's own description of centrist Democrats. "But we also won't beat George Bush by being light on national security, light on fairness for middle-class Americans and light on the values that make us Democrats."
Jodi Wilgoren contributed reporting for this article.