ITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Three weeks before the election and a day before the candidates' final debate, a confident George W. Bush visited President Clinton's home state yesterday, cheered by a thousand supporters, 15 screaming cheerleaders (14 for Bush), and some voters drawn to the Texas governor because of the way Arkansas' native son conducted his presidency.
''I'm not gonna take anything for granted, but let me tell you how I feel. Come three weeks from tomorrow, Arkansas is going to be George W. country,'' Bush yelled, to loud cheers. ''Make no mistake about it, this is going to be a really close election. But I'm buoyed by what I've seen, and I'm buoyed by what I've heard.''
To win Arkansas, where an Oct. 4 Mason-Dixon poll had Bush leading Gore by 2 percent, Bush will be relying on voters like Susan Kincannon, 43, who had voted for Clinton, and for Democrats in every presidential election before that, but believed Bush to be a ''more moral person than what we've seen in the president in the last eight years.''
Not to be outdone in the backyard department, while Bush was in Arkansas, Gore and his aides focused on Texas.
Seeking some tit for tat on the exaggeration front, three Texas legislators said Bush had overblown his successes in helping the uninsured in Texas, taking credit for health care provided free by doctors and hospitals instead of by the state.
Though Bush said three times in last week's presidential debate ''we spend $4.7 billion'' on health care in Texas, three Texas legislators - all Democrats - said their governor is distorting the record, since only $1.2 billion of that amount comes from the government.
''His statements were carefully crafted so that listeners would infer that the state is spending this amount on the uninsured, and he did so in the context of how compassionate he claims to be,'' Texas state Representative Elliott Naishtat told reporters in St. Louis after traveling to the site of the third presidential debate at the expense of the Gore campaign.
''The governor's statements, to be charitable, were grossly misleading. The three of us had similar reactions to the governor's misleading comments: This was too much,'' said Naishtat, chairman of the Human Services Committee. He was flanked by Representative Glen Maxey, the committee's vice chairman, and Representative Garnet Coleman, vice chairman of the House Public Health Committee.
The Bush campaign said the governor did not exaggerate, since he was speaking about money spent by the whole state, not just the government.
''Under Al Gore's vision, if the government doesn't do it, it doesn't get done,'' said spokesman Dan Bartlett in a written statement. ''And the only type of spending he believes in is government spending. In Texas, we spend $4.7 billion on healthcare for the uninsured through our county hospital districts, local community health centers and other state and federally funded programs. Governor Bush is proud that the public and private sectors are working hard to provide health care to the uninsured in Texas.''
Bush pushed the Al-Gore-is-for-big-government line hard at yesterday's Little Rock appearance. Standing at a podium decorated with a huge sign that said ''I TRUST YOU,'' Bush cast Gore as the most free-spending liberal in recent history.
''I'm running against somebody who wants to increase the size and scope of the federal government,'' he said. ''I'm running against somebody who proposed a budget that's three times bigger than the one President Clinton proposed when he ran ... and more federal spending than Michael Dukakis and Walter Mondale combined.''
Bush, who last week got tangled up in the details of his tax plan, recruited a local family, John and Lisa Law, and their children, to demonstrate the difference between his plan and Gore's. Under his plan, Bush said, the Laws would pay no federal income tax, and the crowd cheered. Under Gore's plan, he said, their $1,810 federal income tax bill would be reduced by only $210. He recounted these figures with help from a crib sheet tucked in his palm.
There was a clear difference between the two candidates' philosophies on this and other issues, Bush said: ''He trusts government. He trusts Washington, D.C. Ours is the campaign that trusts the people.''
Bush, who spent part of the weekend preparing for the debate, is expected to hammer at Gore's spending proposals in tonight's debate, while Gore was preparing to attack his record as Texas governor. Both candidates will respond to questions from a group of uncommitted voters, as well as from moderator Jim Lehrer.
Meanwhile, in Innsbrook, Mo., Gore prepared by staging a mock forum with 23 people selected by the campaign. Some are part of a group that advised Gore for the first two debates, while others are new to the experience.
Gore recalled holding many town meeting gatherings while representing Tennessee in Congress, and he pledged to hold them as president.
''I think it's an excellent way to stay in very close communication with the people of this country,'' he said.
Gore campaign manager William Daley said tonight's format was a good one for the vice president.
''I don't think you play it safe,'' said Daley, when asked what Gore's strategy would be. He said he hoped Bush would be called on the disputed health-spending fiugres, just as Gore was ''exceedingly raked over the coals'' on his previous misstatements.
Abraham, traveling with Bush, reported from Arkansas; Johnson, traveling with Gore, reported from St. Louis.
