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By Patricia Wilson

BOSTON, April 11 (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Sunday tried to keep the focus on President George W. Bush's economic record of "middle class misery" even as violence in Iraq threatened to overshadow the campaign.

In a new study for release on Monday, Kerry said a combination of rising college and health care costs, together with sluggish incomes, have squeezed America's working families since Bush took office and eliminated any financial gain from the president's tax cuts.

The core of Kerry's economic argument has been job losses during Bush's tenure, but the report pointed to another problem -- middle class families struggling with "the rising cost of health care, college tuition and gasoline at the same time that wages and incomes are stagnating and personal bankruptcies are at record levels."

Between 2000 and 2003, according to the "Middle Class Misery Index," compiled with data from government and independent sources, wages dropped 0.2 percent while the cost of tuition at public colleges and universities increased a record 13 percent.

At the same time, health insurance premiums rose by 11 percent and gasoline prices were up 15 percent, according to the Kerry campaign study.

MISERY INDEX

"The middle-class misery index worsened 13 points in the last three years -- the largest three-year fall on record," the study said.

The index combined seven different indicators: median family income, college tuition, health costs, gasoline cost, bankruptcies, the homeownership rate, and private-sector job growth. The study said six of the seven statistics worsened during Bush's term. Only home ownership rates improved.

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt dismissed the report as "a political stunt" designed "to obscure the fact that John Kerry has a lifetime record of voting to make life more difficult for middle-income Americans."

Schmidt said Kerry had voted for higher taxes 350 times, promised to increase federal spending by $2 trillion so far in the presidential election campaign and warned that a massive tax increase was "looming over the heads of the middle class."

Almost 2 million jobs have been lost on Bush's watch, but Schmidt, citing Labor Department figures showing 308,000 new jobs were added in March, called Kerry "pessimistic" and said he was trying "to talk down" the economy.

On a swing last week through Midwestern states hard hit by job losses, Kerry worked to push his economic agenda but was sidetracked at almost every stop by questions about the chaotic situation in Iraq where mounting casualties and bloodshed have dominated U.S. television and newspapers.

Sunni and Shi'ite militants have battled U.S. and allied troops -- killing about 60 -- in the past week. The latest violence in Iraq has been accompanied by a wave of hostage taking.

Kerry, who attended Easter services in Boston on Sunday, declined to comment on Iraq. On Monday, he starts a tour of college campuses aimed at encouraging young people to go to the polls on Nov. 2.

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