Presidential hopeful, Senator John Kerry, has resumed his Bermuda bashing in a speech from Chicago on Wednesday night.

The anti-Bermuda rhetoric has served the Democratic candidate well, gaining applause when he attacks companies that leave the US to avoid taxes and has said that Government money will not be allowed to go to these companies.

The issue of jobs going overseas in the US has become a hot election issue and has become mixed up with the idea of companies re-incorporating offshore to cut down on their tax bills.

?We will create new incentives to help companies create and keep new jobs here at home,? said Kerry on Wednesday night. ?If I?m President our government won?t provide a single reward for sending our jobs overseas, or exploiting the tax code to go to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes while sticking the American people with the bill.?

Kerry has been loudly denouncing US companies moving offshore to save on their taxes calling them ?Benedict Arnold? firms ? after the notorious American traitor.

But he appeared to have softened his Bermuda-bashing stance after his overwhelming victory on ?Super Tuesday?, according to Bermuda International Business Association last week.

He is expected to be the Democrat who will go head to head with President George Bush in this year?s US general election in November ? and would have to appeal more to business leaders to gain financial backing.

?Just as we predicted earlier, now he has the nomination he appears to be backing off from his anti-Bermuda rhetoric because he will have to appeal to a broader base of Americans,? said Deborah Middleton, chief executive officer of Bermuda International Business Association last week. ?He will need to move more to the right and win over corporate America if he wants to be able to raise money and compete with Bush.?

He dropped any mention of Bermuda from his victory speech on Tuesday night ? the first time he had not had a go at Bermuda in weeks.

But he was back again on Wednesday night after taking a short holiday from Bermuda-bashing.

The most recent speech containing anti-Bermuda rhetoric was two weeks ago in Toledo, Ohio. He said: ?Right after September 11th, a major accounting firm put on a seminar to show how companies could move their official address to Bermuda and avoid paying taxes here at home.

?One of the firm?s partners said that day ? quote ? ?the improvement on earnings is powerful enough that maybe the patriotism issue needs to take a back seat.? I believe we need to put patriotism back in the driver?s seat.

?We need to encourage a corporate culture where companies provide a fair break for workers and a fair return for shareholders instead of a fast buck and a false bottom line followed by golden parachutes; where corporations make profits the old-fashioned way ? by building our economy, not bilking our people...

?But if I?m President our government won?t provide a single reward for shipping our jobs overseas, or exploiting the tax code to go to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes while sticking the American people with the bill.?