Edwards, a onetime presidential candidate, voted the chamber's way 40 percent of the time since 1999, but only 15 percent last year. Kerry sided with the chamber 35 percent of the time since 1997, but did not vote its way on any of 23 votes in 2003.

Kerry's campaign counters that he and Edwards have promised to be more fiscally responsible by reducing the federal deficit.

Kerry and Edwards also have pledged to push tax policies, including cuts in some corporate income taxes, that will promote economic growth, says campaign adviser Gene Sperling. The policies also include eliminating capital gains taxes on startup investments held for five years or more.

The National Federation of Independent Business, the leading small-business trade group, does not endorse presidential candidates. But it will remind its 600,000 members that Kerry's and Edwards' Senate voting records have not favored their top issues, including employee healthcare costs, estate taxes and regulatory relief for small firms. The NFIB will blanket members with postcards, e-mails and TV ads.

Small-business owners are found on both sides:

In Santa Monica, Calif., public relations agency owner Renee Miller likely will vote for Kerry.

Miller, 48, says only a change in the White House will give the economy a jolt.

"We keep hearing from the current administration that things are turning around. I'm not seeing it," said Miller, who has voted in every recent presidential election and consistently votes Democratic.

In Seattle, software retailer John Foster is 90 percent sure he'll vote for Bush. Foster, 45, says the president, waging an escalating war on terror, will spend more on the military. That would be a boost for Boeing, a Seattle stalwart whose fortunes ripple over Foster's company.

Foster says Kerry spends too much time talking about what's wrong with the United States.

"I never hear the solution. That's what scares me," he says.

Edwards' work as a plaintiff's attorney suing businesses before he entered the Senate in 1999 makes him unpopular with most industries, a fact Republicans are exploiting. Yet, that same background could attract more contributions from lawyers, already a leading money source for both tickets.

Large corporations typically avoid the fray because political positions alienate customers and employees. Still, many lean Republican. Among CEOs of the five biggest companies, four donated $2,000 to Bush — the maximum — and nothing to Kerry. They include H. Lee Scott of Wal-Mart, Richard Wagoner of General Motors, William Clay Ford of Ford Motor and Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric, says the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. ExxonMobil's Lee Raymond made no contributions.

CEOs' views are often voiced by their trade associations.