MOOSIC, Pa. (Reuters) - President Bush opened his post-convention drive to the Nov. 2 election on Friday by arguing his economic policies are paying off with an increase of 144,000 U.S. jobs in August.

The jobs numbers, while below market forecasts of 150,000, were respectable enough to give the Republican president a lift, and he quickly noted the U.S. unemployment rate of 5.4 percent was a point below the rate last summer and below the average of the 1970s, the 1980s and 1990s.

Bush said at a campaign rally that "because we acted our economy is growing again" and said 1.7 million jobs have been created since August 2003 and more than 200,000 in the last two months.

"Our growing economy is spreading prosperity and opportunity and nothing will hold us back," Bush told a morning crowd of about 10,000 supporters at a minor league baseball stadium in this Scranton suburb of northeastern Pennsylvania.

The campaign of Democrat John Kerry quickly argued the jobs figures fell short of what is needed to keep up with population growth. Despite the new numbers, the U.S. economy has shed about 913,000 jobs since Bush took office.

"President Bush is now certain to be the first president since the Great Depression to face re-election without creating a single job," Kerry said in a statement.

The jobs numbers could figure prominently in the candidates' final two-month drive to the election because unemployment is a key factor in many closely fought Midwestern battleground states that Bush and Kerry are criss-crossing.

The new data could also bolster Bush's convention-speech argument for broad tax reform. Bush said in New York that if he were re-elected, he would establish a bipartisan panel to come up with options for a tax system that is "simpler, fairer, and pro-growth."

Bush, after his speech on Thursday night accepting the Republican nomination for president, darted out of the starting gates for Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Iowa, states he lost in 2000.

He was to end up late on Friday in Cleveland, his 24th visit to Ohio, a must-have state.

As a counterweight to Bush's campaign stops, the Kerry campaign was airing television ads tailored for those states.

The ads were running in Scranton and Erie, Pennsylvania, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cleveland and Parkersburg, West Virginia. The ads contended Bush has failed to keep his promises.

A next step in the campaign is for both sides to negotiate the number and terms of presidential debates. A commission on debates has recommended three between Bush and Kerry and one between the vice presidential contenders. Republicans say Bush may argue for only two with Kerry.

At Moosic's Lackawanna County Stadium, Bush and his wife, Laura, stood on a stage set up on home plate. Looking back at them was a large sign on the center field wall 408 feet away that said "Four More Years."

"With your help, your state of Pennsylvania will be a significant reason we are re-elected for four more years," Bush told the pumped-up crowd.

Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum urged the crowd to get out the vote for the president.