Democrat Gore and Republican Bush also planned to replenish their campaign treasuries, tinker with their senior staffs and coordinate political operations with their national parties.

"John McCain tapped into a vein," Bush told The Associated Press. "The McCain supporters will hear my message of reform: reforming schools, reforming the military, reforming the tax code, and renewal, renewing the spirit of America."

As for Gore, the vice president invoked McCain's name more often than President Clinton's. In a round of TV interviews, he twice started a sentence, "Like John McCain, I. ..." And Gore, who campaigned in Detroit, added to the week's schedule another two stops in Michigan in an effort to convert the voters who handed McCain his Feb. 22 primary victory there.

Both nominees-in-waiting are scouring exit polls that validate McCain's ability to draw Democrats, independents and first-time Republican voters into the political process. In Republican contests Tuesday, 60 percent of the independent voters backed McCain.

In California, where candidates were ranked by all voters on a single ballot, McCain finished third overall to Gore and Bush. But he was the top vote-getter among independents, securing more than one-third of the total.

His strength is the weakness of both Gore and Bush.

National polls suggest the two are virtually even among independent voters. Bush held a wide lead over Gore in the category a few months ago, and his slippage helps explain why his overall lead in head-to-head matchups against the vice president has evaporated.

One third of Americans see Bush as too conservative and about a third see Gore as too liberal, most national polls say. The numbers broke the same way Tuesday in California, the nation's biggest general election prize.

"It's a bigger problem for Bush than Gore, but both of them are going to have to focus on a broader constituency than they have so far," said Al From, chairman of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council.

In recent months, both candidates courted their party's most active primary voters, who tend to be more liberal or conservative than the average American.

Gore suggested in a debate that he would require top military leaders to accept gays serving openly in the military. He backed off the remark, but Republicans plan to use it against him in the fall.

Bush allies are poised to accuse Gore of putting himself in labor's pocket in exchange for its support in the primaries. They will also compare Gore's call for universal health coverage to Hillary Rodham Clinton's failed plan and criticize the vice president's courtship of New York's controversial Rev. Al Sharpton.

Counting on health reform as a positive for him, Gore offered reporters in Tennessee this unsolicited observation over a milkshake Wednesday: "I noticed in his speech last night Gov. Bush did not even mention health care. It may not be a priority for him but it is a priority for me."

Bush planned to hoard his money and stick to a moderate message throughout the primaries, but scrapped the strategy when McCain thumped him in New Hampshire. He seemed to lurch to the right, visiting a staunch conservative university in South Carolina, refusing to meet with a gay GOP activists group and fostering informal ties with evangelical leader Pat Robertson.

With McCain fanning the flames, Bush lost the independent vote by a 3-to-1 margin in some states.

"He obviously took a few hits, but it's all curable," said Charlie Black, a GOP strategist and informal Bush adviser.

Seeking that antidote, Bush is promising change, character and compassion -- dubbed "the three C's" by his campaign.

Targeting McCain supporters, he is telling voters he reformed schools, the civil justice system and welfare in Texas. He has McCain's coalition in mind, too, when he attacks the Clinton-Gore administration.

Bush is touting his education proposals to appeal to a larger pool of independents -- suburban voters who swing between the two parties but don't participate in GOP primaries.

"While McCain voters are a priority, they're only one of several groups of swing voters we'll be going after," said Bush strategist Karl Rove.

Aiming for the same audience, Gore is promising to restrict access to guns, protect the economy and save Social Security.

While the candidates tinker with the messages, their operatives are getting general election campaigns into shape:

• The Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee are planning multimillion dollar ad campaigns to benefit their nominees.

• Gore is considering moving his campaign manager, Donna Brazile, to the DNC to oversee the party. Bush plans to install an ally at the RNC.

• Bush's team in Austin was meeting with RNC officials this week to discuss how the party is gearing up for the general election. One topic: Opposition research on Gore.

• The RNC is polling to find Gore's vulnerabilities. A copy of the polls, obtained by the AP, shows that voters are being asked about his "flip-flopping" on abortion, his claim to have invented the Internet and his involvement in questionable 1996 fund raising.

• Bush plans to add heft to his senior team by bringing aboard strategists with presidential campaign experience.

• Bush plans to raise $10 million in the next few weeks to refill his campaign coffers. Gore spent his money more prudently, but must abide by spending limits.

• As early as next month, Bush could begin airing ads aimed at general election audiences.

• Both campaigns plan to reduce their payrolls by shipping aides to national party payrolls.