ARION, Ill. - With just 31 days until the election, the presidential candidates continued their hot pursuit of undecided voters yesterday with distinctly differing styles: George W. Bush unveiling domestic proposals in a hushed room; Al Gore cheering his running mate on an outdoor stage.
Gore, speaking to a crowd of about 7,000 in the sweltering Walt Disney Amphitheater at Lake Eola, Fla., played to the state's large population of retirees, promoting his proposals for retirement savings, protecting Social Security, and reforming Medicare.
At his side was Connecticut Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, declaring it a ''great morning after'' his vice presidential debate with former defense secretary Dick Cheney.
Bush started the day with a narrower and more deliberate approach, unveiling a $2.8 billion proposal to curb illegal drug use. Although he later held a giant rally in southern Illinois, his campaign pitched the drug-policy speech as his main event, continuing the weeklong theme of ''giving parents the tools they need.''
By day's end, both candidates had been to Florida, where the campaigns are waging a pitched battle for the state's 25 electoral votes. And both embraced their vice presidential candidates - in Bush's case, metaphorically, as Cheney campaigned in Louisiana.
Gore's reunion with Lieberman had the air of a victory celebration. It also appeared designed to highlight the ticket's compatibility. Lieberman's wife, Hadassah, introduced Gore's wife, Tipper, who, in turn, introduced the senator. He passed the microphone to Gore after a glowing introduction.
Cheering Lieberman's performance in the debate against Cheney, Tipper Gore said: ''He won on the issues that we all care about. He was great. He was spectacular. He was amazing.''
Then, with a rhythmic delivery, she said: ''Super-man. Bat-man. Lieber-man, I love it.''
Bush held a similarly jubilant event in Marion, Ill., yesterday afternoon, speaking to thousands at an airplane hangar. Though his campaign has largely ceded Illinois to Gore, the southern portion of the state is in a significant media market that broadcasts to parts of Missouri and Kentucky, which are still competitive.
Earlier in the day, reading from teleprompters in an intimate hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Bush lowered his tone and slowed his pace, conveying a studied demeanor. He was surrounded by just a few hundred supporters.
Calling teen drug statistics ''one of the worst public policy failures of the '90s,'' Bush described a mounting national crisis that began virtually the day President Clinton was inaugurated.
''From 1979 to 1992, our nation confronted drug abuse successfully. Teen drug use declined each and every year,'' Bush said. ''Unfortunately, in the last 71/2 years, fighting drug abuse has ceased to be a national priority.''
Blaming a lack of funding and an inconsistent policy, Bush listed a litany of troubles during the Clinton administration: the doubling of teen drug use between 1992 and 1997, the growth of methamphetamines, the increase of the number of high school seniors who use marijuana.
Gore aides dismissed the Bush statistics, saying they did not take the overall picture into account. Since 1992, the number of drug users ages 25 to 24 has dropped 39 percent, and drug use by teenagers ages 12 to 17 declined 21 percent between 1997 and 1999, Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway said.
''Once again, Governor Bush has misfired in attacking the progress of the past eight years,'' Hattaway said. ''Al Gore and this administration proposed the largest antidrug budget ever and under this administration drug arrests are up while drug use is down.''
Clinton has requested $19.26 billion for antidrug measures in the fiscal 2001 budget, and has increased the drug-fighting budget more than $6 billion since 1993. A Bush aide said the governor's five-year, $2.8 billion plan would be in addition to the current baseline budget laid out by the Clinton White House. Gore is proposing antidrug measures that would cost $5.3 billion over 10 years.
Among Bush's proposals are providing $1 billion to states for treatment programs and conducting a state-by-state inventory of treatment needs and capacity, and increasing funding for the Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act by $1 billion over 5 years.
Gore, meanwhile, continued to sound familiar themes. Of his plan to have the government match up to $4,000 of a couple's savings in Retirement Savings Plus Accounts, the vice president said: ''We want to give you a generous incentive to save and invest your own money and build a nest egg that can be used for retirement.''
He contrasted that with Bush's proposal to let younger workers invest part of their Social Security payroll tax in the stock market.
''The stock market can be a good investment, but you don't want to take your safety net, your safety net program, Social Security, and put that at risk,'' Gore declared to a cheering crowd.
He said Bush's plan could cost $1 trillion to launch stock-market accounts and ''cause the bankruptcy of Social Security in a single generation.''
Gore also attacked Bush's proposed $1.3 trillion tax cut, saying it would give almost 20 percent of its benefits to people with income of more than $1 million annually.
Mocking the governor's debate criticism of the arithmetic, Gore said: ''Those facts aren't `fuzzy.' Those facts are real. They may be inconvenient, but they're not fuzzy.''
Later in the day, Gore flew to a family event in New York, and he is scheduled to be in Washington today. Bush is scheduled to hold a town hall-style meeting in Florida today, and will spend the rest of the weekend at his Texas ranch.
Kornblut reported from Illinois and Iowa; Johnson from Florida.
