President Bush speaks:

After launching two wars, President Bush said on Tuesday he wanted to be a “peace president” and took swipes at his Democratic rivals for being lawyers and weak on defense.

With polls showing public support for the war in Iraq in decline, the Republican president cast himself as a reluctant warrior as he campaigned in the battleground state of Iowa against Democrat John Kerry and his running mate, former trial lawyer John Edwards. Bush lost the state in 2000 by only a few thousand votes. […]

“I’m not a lawyer, you’ll be happy to hear,” Bush said to cheers. “That’s the other team. This is the pro-small business team.”

He also lashed out at them for not backing an $87 billion funding for the U.S. military presence in Iraq and the country’s reconstruction. The two Democrats have said they opposed the funding in opposition to Bush’s Iraq policy. [Emphasis added]

Such a positive campaigner that President Bush. As to Reuters’ last sentence:

Kerry’s staff said he was trying to indicate his support for an amendment funding the appropriation from increased taxes on the wealthiest Americans. When that amendment failed, he voted against the bill.

and:

Kerry had said that he voted for an alternative Democratic version of the $87-billion package that would have paid for war supplies by repealing tax cuts for the wealthy.

Added: Frederick reviews Bush’s earlier enthusiasm about being a war president.