Michael Dukakis rallied supporters at a church today with a declaration that ``11 days is an eternity'' and time enough to catch George Bush before Election Day. Bush suggested Americans would wake up to a gloomy morning if Dukakis should be elected. Bush celebrated like the front-runner he is Thursday night at a party at Bob Hope's house. But Dukakis also was upbeat at a rally early today at a Baptist church in Kansas City, Mo.. ``In politics, as you all know, 11 days is an eternity,'' Dukakis said. ``There is time to do it.'' He was introduced by the Rev. Wallace S. Hartsfield, who said that during the Reagan administration there have been ``a few at the head of the table who refuse to pass the bread.'' Dukakis, who opened his remarks by saying ``I've got a little preaching to do,'' promised Hartsfield things would change in a Dukakis White House. ``We're not only going to pass the bread, but you're going to be at the table,'' he told the predominantly black audience. Dukakis, who hosted a town meeting Thursday night in nearby Independence, Harry Truman's hometown, said he was inspired by the visit and confident he could, like Truman, pull off an upset. To win he will have to defy the polls much as Truman did in 1948. The newest batch of surveys _ including one Thursday showing a nine-point Bush lead _ range from eight to 15 points. Bush said Thursday night that he would not be ``talking on the negative side'' in the closing days of the race, but that didn't seem to last long. He told a business group in Los Angeles today that Dukakis ``wants to torpedo the prosperity we've worked so hard to achieve.'' Bush said, ``Peace means you can sleep at night knowing the world will still be there in the morning; prosperity means you can sleep at night knowing that opportunity will still be there in the morning. ``You know about our mornings,'' Bush said. ``But I ask you to consider: What kind of morning would electing the liberal governor of Massachusetts bring? Will it be gloomy? Will the dark clouds of pessimism and limited possibility obscure our vision?' Thursday night, at a stop in Kansas City, Dukakis sat for a 14-minute interview with Dan Rather on the CBS ``Evening News'' where he conceded that GOP advertising had hurt his candidacy. ``There's no mystery about why they put those ads on. They have done damage. There's no question about that,'' he said. Dukakis suggested that Bush resorted to the commercials ``to divert public attention from the fact that this administration has probably had more corruption and malfeasance than any in recent memory, if not in history.'' The Democratic nominee was continuing his campaign in Missouri today before heading to Michigan and later Boston. Dukakis' running mate, Lloyd Bentsen, was focusing on California _ and its electoral prize of 47 votes _ before returning to his home state of Texas. Bush was also targeting California before traveling to Nebraska where he planned a joint appearance with Sen. David Karnes. The Republican candidate faces an uphill battle with former Nebraska Gov. Bob Kerrey for the Senate seat. Republican vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle was touring the ``Pennsylvania Dutch'' region and scheduled a series of appearances at the state's high schools. The Republican ticket, according to an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday, leads Dukakis-Bentsen 51 percent to 42 percent, considerably closer than the 17 points in a similar poll done just after the Oct. 13 debate. The survey, conducted among 1,285 likely voters, had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. As he campaigned in the West, Bush said the Pacific nations represent ``huge and growing markets'' for American goods, ``if we don't turn and run away.'' ``I will make sure that our trading partners continue to understand that our markets are vital to their growth as well,'' Bush said. ``Free trade must be fair trade. A Bush administration will keep the heat on.'' But Bentsen, in a speech to the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles, said that under the leadership of the Reagan administration, the United States had become an international debtor, dependent on foreign investors as it battles huge trade and budget deficits. ``The United States must be able to compete not only militarily but economically,'' Bentsen said. Dukakis, in the CBS interview, reiterated his populist view that the Democratic ticket favors average Americans while Bush is the candidate of the privileged class. ``I want the government of this country to be on the side of average Americans and I think that's a fundamental difference between me and George Bush,'' the Democratic nominee said. Meanwhile, the Dukakis campaign announced that it is doubling its budget for Hispanic ads, targeting seven states with large Hispanic voter populations. The campaign also is spending about $3 million _ 10 percent of its media budget _ on black-oriented television and radio ads which began three weeks ago. In five of the radio ads, former Democratic candidate Jesse Jackson tells listeners, ``We have the power to make Mike Dukakis president. Let's use it.''
