At his first stop of the day, Bush addressed 600 supporters in a Knights of Columbus hall in South River, N.J., and cautioned against relaxing the nation's military strength because of peace overtures from Moscow.

"As much as we welcome the change in the Soviet Union, now is not the time to abandon realism about what makes the Soviet Union move," Bush said. "Soviet military spending is up. The Soviets continue to modernize their forces" and "Soviet tank armies are still poised to take the offensive in Europe with great advantage on their side."

Bush criticized Dukakis for opposing the MX and Midgetman missiles while also saying he wants to modernize the land-based U.S. strate force.

"He just does not understand that's not how it works...that it takes up to 10 years to develop and deploy a system like this," Bush said. "He doesn't understand that we can't give away our best cards and then sit down and expect to negotiate a fair treaty with the Soviets.

"I don't think we should risk turning over the leadership and security of this free world of ours to a man...with literally no experience in foreign affairs," the vice president added.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, Dukakis' runningmate, said he was giving himself the job ofanswering GOP charges. "Every time they issue afalsehood, I'm going to take them on andstraighten that one out," he told workers at thehuge General Electric appliance plant inLouisville, Ky.

Bentsen, a World War II veteran, said he tookit "as a personal insult to me" that theRepublicans were trying to paint Dukakis as weakon defense.

In neighboring Ohio, Sen. Dan Quayle, who isBush's running mate, said the economic recoverygenerated during the Reagan-Bush administrationmeans "a job for all who want to work. It meansfor the first time ever we can make and keep thepromise of a job for every American who wants ajob.