US group unveils Kerry attack ads

Bush accused his opponent of not offering strategies

A US conservative group has released a series of television advertisements criticising US Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry.

The ads, paid for by a group called Citizens United, condemn Mr Kerry as a "rich liberal elitist".

The move comes as Mr Kerry faces the next stage of the Democratic presidential primaries on Tuesday.

The southern states of Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas will be choosing who faces George W Bush.

Campaign controversy

The advertisements ran in select states over the weekend but went nationwide across the US on Monday.

So far all we hear from the other side is a lot of old bitterness and old anger George W Bush

They attack the Massachusetts senator - who seems set to win the Democratic nomination - for claiming be a man of the people and list his expensive homes and possessions, including a luxury yacht.

Last week the Bush administration unveiled its first television campaign ads ahead of the November presidential elections.

The ads caused controversy as some of them contained images from the September 2001 terror attacks - a move which led to condemnation from some victims' families.

'Broken promises'

Both sides have increased their political attacks in the past few weeks, with Mr Bush telling a fundraiser in his home state of Texas on Monday that Mr Kerry was "not offering strategies" for the American people.

"So far all we hear from the other side is a lot of old bitterness and old anger," he told a fund-raiser in Dallas.

On Sunday Mr Kerry accused Mr Bush of overseeing an "arrogant, inept, reckless, ideological" foreign policy and misleading the country on the Iraq war.

"After leaving a four-year trail of broken promises in every region of America, we know that Bush is running from his record because he doesn't have a record to run on," he told supporters in Florida - the battleground state from the controversial 2000 presidential election.