Davenport, Iowa ? President Bush and challenger John Kerry brought their battle for the White House to this Mississippi River town Wednesday, staging dueling campaign events within blocks of one another where they painted sharply contrasting portraits of the economy and U.S. policy in Iraq.

The proximity of the two candidates was a coincidence in scheduling, according to both campaigns, but their twin appearances underscored the importance of Iowa in an election that remains a toss-up both in this state and nationally.

Bush and Kerry were greeted by a banner headline in the Quad-City Times that read “President Bush, Mr. Kerry, We Want You To Know …” and smaller headlines noting that the economy is the number one issue for voters and that an area of the state with a preponderance of swing voters remains up for grabs .

Speaking in shirtsleeves at an outdoor rally at a riverside park, Bush claimed success for his economic policies, noting that Iowa’s unemployment rate is below the national average. He predicted that he would carry a state he lost narrowly to former vice president Al Gore four years ago.

“The other folks talk a good game,” the president said. “We deliver.”

Kerry, who staged an economic summit with business and labor leaders at the indoor River Center, spoke about a different economy, one that has cost Iowa about 25,000 manufacturing jobs in the past four years. He tweaked Bush for saying the past few days that the economy has turned the corner.

“I guess President Bush is just a few blocks from here,” Kerry said at his forum. “It occurred to me that he could come here for a great discussion about America’s future if he were really willing to just turn a corner.”

Bush and Kerry circled past one another over the weekend as they have campaigned through Ohio and Pennsylvania, but Wednesday’s overlapping events marked the first time they have been in the same place at the same time during this campaign.

In April, Bush and Kerrey attended different ceremonies in Topeka, Kan. marking the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in school desegregation case Brown vs. Board of education, but those were billed as official, non-political events. There was no such pretense today, as the two campaigns focused on Iowa’s seven electoral votes, which went narrowly for Al Gore four years ago.

“I don’t think anyone should be surprised the two may cross paths from time to time, given that certain states are more competitive than others,” White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said.

Bush lost Iowa by fewer than 5,000 votes — out of 1.3 million cast — and both campaigns see eastern Iowa as particularly crucial to the outcome in November In the Quad-Cities area of Iowa, independents significantly outnumber Republicans and Democrats in party registration. The two campaigns view those voters as the key to victory in November.