Oct. 5, 2000-- GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) _ Al Gore and George W. Bush are intensifying their struggle for battleground swing states, with Gore hammering at his rival's tax proposals and Bush focusing on credibility. Bush is also focusing on family issues, releasing a proposal that he said would "put government back on the side of parents."

The proposal, released in Detroit, included plans to make workplace compensatory time easier to take, give parents flexibility to work from home and help parents protect children from inappropriate online and television content.

Still sharpening differences drawn at their first debate, both were stumping in Michigan Thursday after making separate campaign forays into Ohio on Wednesday.

Gore is stubbornly sticking to his insistence that Bush would fritter away the budget surplus on tax breaks for the rich at the same time he touts his own care tax credit proposal.

Bush also talked about children's issues in Detroit, where he proposed to amend federal law by allowing private sector employees to take 1.5 hours of comp time for every hour of overtime worked. Under his proposal, employers would be prohibited from pressuring workers to take comp time instead of overtime pay. Employers would be required to reimburse workers in cash for any unused comp time.

The plan also would require libraries and schools that receive federal funding to install Internet filters, and would encourage broadcasters to air "family oriented" programming from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Gore planned a visit to a child care facility to talk about his plans to broaden child care tax breaks.

He was making his proposal in former President Gerald Ford's home town, a reliably Republican region. Aides said internal surveys show a slice of the region's electorate to be open to Gore's message, and cutting the margin of loss in western Michigan could throw the state into their camp.

Bush also continued to underscore "exaggerations and embellishments" that he says call Gore's character into question.

"This is a man _ he's got a record, you know, of sometimes exaggerating to make a point," said Bush.

Bush pointed to comments Gore made about a disaster inspection trip, and using an example of a Florida schoolgirl forced to stand in a crowded classroom.

The girl did have to stand _ but only for the first day of class, when there were not enough desks in the room, not longer as Gore implied. The campaign said Gore learned of the incident in a letter from the girl's father, who asked him to address overcrowding in the debate. Neither the letter nor a local newspaper article on the girl pointed out that she was forced to stand for only a day.

And the vice president did not actually accompany the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on a trip to Texas, as he claimed, but did make his own trip to see the damage.

Gore, rallying a crowd in Warren, a Democratic stronghold, scolded Bush. "I think it's time to make our country an even better country instead of trying to make another candidate out to be a bad person," Gore said.

While Bush sought to focus on character, Gore said the key campaign issue is who would benefit most from rival campaign proposals.

On Thursday, Bush began airing a new TV commercial offering a sweeping outline of his philosophy. The 60-second ad will air in 19 states.

Both Ohio and Michigan are big industrial states in a region likely to settle the election, and polls show both states are competitive.

The two sides were keeping up their scheduling mirror later in the week, both heading to Florida before a weekend of preparations for the next debate.

(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)