Dyersville, Iowa ? As Sen. John Kerry campaigned across Iowa on Sunday with Gov. Tom Vilsack, widely reported to be on Kerry’s vice presidential short list, both men dodged repeated questions about whether their joint appearance might be a preview of the Democratic ticket.

But even as he tried to avoid making news Sunday, Kerry broke new ground in an interview that ran in the Dubuque, Iowa, daily, the Telegraph Herald. A Catholic who supports abortion rights and has taken heat recently from some in the church hierarchy for his stance, Kerry told the paper: “I oppose abortion, personally. I don’t like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception.”

Spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said that although Kerry has often said abortion should be “safe, legal and rare,” and that his religion shapes that view, she could not recall him ever publicly discussing when life begins.

“I can’t take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist,” he continued in the interview. “We have separation of church and state in the United States of America.” The comments came on the final day of a three-state Midwest swing, during which Kerry has repeatedly sought to dispel stereotypes that could play negatively among voters.

Bush campaign speaks out

President Bush’s campaign said these instances were further evidence of what it said was Kerry’s propensity for misleading flip-flops.

“John Kerry’s ridiculous claim to hold conservative values and his willingness to change his beliefs to fit his audience betrays a startling lack of conviction on important issues like abortion that will make it difficult for voters to give him their trust,” said Steve Schmidt, a Bush campaign spokesman.

Vilsack’s chances uncertain

On Sunday morning, the day the candidate’s abortion comments appeared in the local paper, Kerry sat in a church pew near Vilsack, also a Catholic who supports abortion rights, and his wife, Christie, one of Kerry’s earliest backers in Iowa.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, right, acknowledges 100-year-old Anita Manternach of Dubuque, Iowa, as he stops along the parade route in Cascade, Iowa. Inside the building Sunday was Iowa democratic Governor Tom Vilsack, left, a possible for vice presidential candidate.

Afterward several parishioners asked him about his position on abortion and his vote against a recent bill that would have banned the late-term procedure opponents call “partial-birth” abortion, according to a reporter for the Telegraph Herald who sat behind Kerry’s pew.

Kerry took communion during Mass, which a few Catholic bishops have publicly said he should not do because of his abortion views.

“I wish he was against abortion, but I don’t think that’ll get settled,” said Helen Willenberg, 83, a Catholic who met Kerry later in the day. “But I still hope he wins.”

Later, the two men walked the same Cascade, Iowa, parade route, shaking hands with voters, but rarely walking alongside each other or conversing publicly.

“Come on up here, Mr. President, we’ve got room for you,” said a man seated on the porch of the Hughes Realty agency, as Kerry hopped over to say hello. There were also scattered Bush signs, some Bush stickers on folks holding Kerry signs and at least one heckler, in a T-shirt that read “W in ’04,” who yelled, “Kerry go home.”

When a reporter asked whether he would be selected as Kerry’s running mate, Vilsack shouted, “Here, you want some candy?” and threw goodies at the media.

Asked whether he had decided who would join his ticket, Kerry said, “I made a decision to get a drink and eat some lunch.”