Kerry rallies in Roanoke during swing through state

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry fired up party activists in Roanoke on Saturday night by accusing President George W. Bush of "creating a new sense of entitlement for the wealthy at the expense of the average working person in America."

"I'm tired of hearing this talk about trickle-down economics - it isn't trickle-down at all," Kerry said in a speech to 350 Democrats at Hotel Roanoke. "Most people I've met in the United States of America are tired of being trickled on by George W. Bush."

The Massachusetts senator delivered the keynote address at a fund-raising dinner for the Democrats' 6th and 9th congressional district committees.

He devoted most of his speech to criticizing the Bush administration's economic record, blaming the president for a ballooning deficit, more than 3 million lost jobs and a corporate climate in which executives of failed companies have been insulated from the losses suffered by workers and shareholders.

"The only jobs George W. Bush has created are the nine of us running for president of the United States," said Kerry.

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