LEWISTON – Former New York Knicks star Bill Bradley had a message for President Bush on Tuesday: “Don’t get too attached to your job.”

The Missouri native made a prediction: The Boston Red Sox will win the World Series on or about Friday. “Four days later, John Kerry becomes president of the United States.”

One week before the election, Bradley, a former U.S. senator, NBA star and presidential candidate, rallied Kerry followers from the downtown Lisbon Street headquarters.

Glancing at old posters on the wall, Bradley recalled former Maine politicians he knew: Bill Hathaway, Ed Muskie, George Mitchell. They were in office “for one purpose: to make life better for the middle class, so those with less had a chance to make it,” he said.

So is Kerry, Bradley said, adding that that’s a difference between Kerry and Bush. One of the first things Kerry would do is get rid of the tax cuts for those who earn more than $200,000 a year, saying the middle class is shouldering too much of the burden.

If the country went back to the tax burden when Ronald Reagan was president, “we’d be able to provide health care for all Americans. We’d be able to make sure that education got the right kind of attention and funding.”

This election is the most important of his lifetime when it comes to jobs and health care, not counting the “disastrous mistake” of invading Iraq, where billions of U.S. dollars are “being poured into the sands of Iraq,” he said.

Bradley expressed shock about news reports Monday of high explosives missing from an Iraqi military installation. The Associated Press reported that Iraqi officials said nearly 400 tons of high explosives were stolen from the site sometime after the fall of Baghdad.

Referring to the fact that it took only one pound of explosives to destroy Pan Am flight 103, Bradley said, “I don’t think Bush has a chance of getting out of this.”

There will be no fresh start to Iraq, to job losses and the middle class squeeze, unless Kerry is elected, he warned.

The still lanky athlete-turned-politician dismissed national polls that show the race close. Kerry is ahead, Bradley asserted, because new voter registrations are up and those people aren’t being caught by the polling.

Looking at the volunteers, Bradley said that in Maine, every vote will make a difference. “If anyone doesn’t believe that, I’ll show you reruns of election night 2000.”

Anna Burger of the Service Employees International Union told supporters that Mainers have seen jobs disappear and wages fall, while costs for prescription drugs, health care, energy and education have climbed. A change is needed, Burger said.

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