July 4 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush, making an Independence Day stop in the key election state of West Virginia, said the U.S. must be ``relentless and determined'' in pursuing terrorists throughout the world.

``We've got a job to do and that is to protect our country,'' Bush said in a speech in Charleston that honored the military. ``We will engage these enemies in these countries around the world so we do not have to face them here at home.''

Bush said West Virginia, where veterans comprise about 14 percent of the state's adult population, has a ``proud tradition'' of military service. He thanked members of the armed services who have had to endure ``hard missions, long deployments and the difficulties of being separated from their homes and families.''

West Virginia is one of 17 to 20 states that the campaign staffs of Bush, 57, and Democratic rival John Kerry, 60, have targeted for television ads and visits ahead of the Nov. 2 presidential election. Kerry was making stops over the July Fourth holiday weekend in four other so-called battleground states: Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Vice President Dick Cheney, 63, was on a two-day tour that took him to Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as West Virginia.

State-By-State Race

Together the six states account for 73 Electoral College votes. A candidate must win majorities in enough states to collect at least 270 electoral votes, which are apportioned among states based on population. That tally, rather than the national ballot total, determines the election winner.

Bush won the West Virginia and its 5 electoral votes in 2000 by 6.5 percentage points against Democrat Al Gore. Democrats have carried the state in eight of the last 11 presidential elections and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1. Today's trip was Bush's ninth visit to West Virginia since assuming the presidency.

Kerry, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, spent part of his day marching in the Fourth of July parade in Cascade, Iowa, a town of 1,812. He was accompanied by Governor Tom Vilsack, 53, a Democrat who has been cited by party officials as a possible vice presidential candidate.

Kerry shook hands along the parade route and ignored questions about his running mate choice. Asked whether he had made a decision on a vice presidential candidate, Kerry replied: ``I made a decision -- to get a drink and eat some lunch.''

He and Vilsack headed for a barbeque in Independence, Iowa, after the parade.

The state and its seven electoral votes are considered a prime battleground between Kerry and Bush because Gore won Iowa by less than 1 percentage point in 2000.

Cheney Campaigns

While Bush did not mention his opponent, Cheney told an audience of several hundred supporters today at the Pittsburgh's Sailors and Soldiers National Military Museum and Memorial, Kerry is ``out of the mainstream and out of touch with the conservative values of mainstream America.''

His speech repeated the themes he used in stops yesterday, calling Kerry the ``most liberal'' member of the Senate.

Kerry spokesman Phil Singer dismissed Cheney's remarks, saying it was ``fitting'' that the vice president was on a bus tour ``because this White House has taken America for a ride on everything from jobs to the war to Halliburton to John Kerry's record.''

Pennsylvania has 21 electoral votes, tied with Illinois as the fifth biggest bloc of any state. Bush lost the state in the last election by 4.1 percentage points.

Terrorism Threat

In his West Virginia speech, the president highlighted the global battle against terrorism that has been waged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S. and the war in Iraq.

``Iraq only last year was under the control of a dictator who threatened the civilized world, who used weapons of mass destruction against his own people,'' Bush said. ``Because we acted Iraq today is a free and sovereign nation.''

The U.S. remains under the threat of another terrorist attack, Bush said.

``We must work to remove the conditions that give rise to terror'' in the Middle East, Bush said, including poverty.

Bush is facing increasing doubts about the war in Iraq, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll taken June 25 to 28. Of the 1,025 registered voters surveyed nationwide, 51 percent said the war in Iraq hasn't been worth the human and financial costs. An equal number said the war increased, rather than reduced the threat of terrorism, the Journal reported.

In West Virginia, like most of the nation, the economy remains the single biggest issue for voters, according to polls by the Gallup Organization and other firms.

``Our economy is still lousy,'' Allan Hammock, head of the political science department at West Virginia University in Morgantown said in an interview. ``We're struggling, mostly because we've lost high paying manufacturing jobs.''

Payrolls in West Virginia fell by 5,000, or 0.7 percent to 722,800 in May from a year earlier, Labor Department figures show. The state is home to banks and financial services including United Bankshares Inc. and City Holding Co., both of Charleston, and Wes Banco Inc. of Wheeling. The state's jobless rate of 5.2 percent in May was unchanged from April.

Social issues such as guns and abortion still ``play in Bush's favor'' in West Virginia, though he'll have a tougher time this year because ``organized labor is more organized and more fully supportive of the Democratic ticket,'' Hammock said.

Bush's arrival in Charleston was delayed about 90 minutes because of a malfunctioning starter valve on the left engine of Air Force One, a twin-engine Boeing 757-200, spokeswoman Claire Buchan said. A backup plane from Andrews Air Force Base was flown to Hagerstown Regional Airport in Maryland, where Bush boarded from his weekend stay at Camp David.