Yahoo! News - Cheney Backs Off Linking Kerry and Terror Threat

I did not say if Kerry is elected, we will be hit by a terrorist attack,' Cheney told the newspaper during a campaign swing through the battleground states of Ohio and Wisconsin where he is working to bring swing voters to the Republican side.

Some critics suggest such a strong assault on a political opponent might backfire against a candidate, especially among independent voters who could see it as too strident.

The vice president said what he had meant was that if the United States is attacked again, he believed Kerry would fall back on a 'pre-9/11 mind-set' on foreign policy instead of the 'pre-emptive' doctrine pursued by President Bush (news - web sites)."