By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
 
BECKLEY, W.Va., July 16 - President Bush traveled Friday to Florida and West Virginia, states he narrowly won in 2000, giving a sober speech in downtown Tampa that condemned human trafficking as a form of slavery and stirring a raucous crowd here in the heart of Appalachia at a campaign rally.

In Florida, Mr. Bush addressed a meeting organized by the Justice Department, its first conference on human trafficking, including sexual servitude. He used the occasion to criticize Cuba and its leader, Fidel Castro, a central part of the political equation in Florida, home to generations of exiles from Cuba.

"The regime in Havana, already one of the worst violators of human rights in the world, is adding to its crimes," Mr. Bush said. "The dictator welcomes sex tourism."

Cuba has "replaced Southeast Asia as a destination for pedophiles and sex tourists," the president said, quoting from a recent study by Johns Hopkins University.

His administration, Mr. Bush said, "has put a strategy in place to hasten the day when no Cuban child is exploited to finance a failed revolution and every Cuban will live in freedom.''

While pledging that he would give no quarter to countries and individuals who engage in trafficking, Mr. Bush laced his remarks with references to his administration's policy of compassion for victims.

"Human life is the gift of the Creator, and it should never be for sale," he said, adding, "It is a terrible tragedy when anyone comes here, only to be forced into a sweatshop, domestic servitude, pornography or prostitution."

Efforts to reduce trafficking in humans have quietly become a focus of the Bush administration's human rights policy, winning time in several of the president's major addresses, including his speech last September at the United Nations. Mr. Bush said Friday that his administration had spent $295 million to support anti-trafficking programs in more than 120 countries.

In his speech, Mr. Bush alluded to the conclusions of a State Department report that said more than 600,000 children and adults worldwide were seized against their will each year, with as many as 17,500 reaching the United States. He said that more than 80 percent of those victims were believed to be women and girls and that 70 percent of them were forced into sexual servitude. Combating human trafficking is an issue of particular interest to evangelical Christians, one of the most loyal blocs of Bush supporters. But it is also a high priority of feminists, who typically vote Democratic but have made a point of lauding Mr. Bush for his help.

"I've been working against trafficking and human exploitation for 15 years and have never seen this issue move the way it has the last few years," said Donna Hughes, a professor of women's studies at the University of Rhode Island who attended the conference. "I don't care if you're Democrat, Republican, Green, whatever, if you do something that helps more victims, that's good work."

Ms. Hughes, a Democrat, said recent conversations with her feminist friends had changed. "On this issue," she said of Mr. Bush, "they think he's really good."

As different as Friday's settings were - a hotel ballroom in Tampa, a packed armory here in West Virginia - Mr. Bush's message was implicitly the same: the values and vision he champions are the right ones.

"I'm here asking for your vote because I have a plan and a strategy to continue to rally the compassionate spirit of this country, so every American has a chance to realize the great promise of America," Mr. Bush said in West Virginia, a day after Mr. Kerry had visited the state for the second time in less than a week.

Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry have visited Florida and West Virginia repeatedly in recent months, underscoring their importance as swing states this year. In the 2000 election, after court battles and recounts in Florida, Mr. Bush's margin of victory over Al Gore there was 537 votes. He won West Virginia by 6.3 percentage points.

In West Virginia, Mr. Bush repeated his criticism of Mr. Kerry for voting against the $87 billion spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan, pointing out that Mr. Kerry on Thursday called his vote "complicated."

"There's nothing complicated about supporting our troops," Mr. Bush said to loud applause.

The president also tailored his message here to suit an audience that included many coal miners and their families, insisting that the country "cannot be independent without West Virginia coal," another line that won prolonged applause.

Mr. Bush did make one detour from the campaign game plan on Friday.

As his motorcade headed for the airport after his Tampa speech, he directed his limousine to stop in Ybor City, a section of town once famous for its Cuban cigar makers. With his daughter Barbara and his brother Jeb, the Florida governor, he bounded into La Tropicana Cafe, where they encountered a sparse pre-lunch crowd.

The president chatted with a few tables of customers and shook some hands before moving to the bar, where he ordered four Cuban sandwiches (ham, pork and cheese). The bill was $19, and he paid the bartender with a $20 bill.

Before leaving, Governor Bush asked him if he left a tip.

"You take care of it," the president said, smiling.