USA: President George W Bush and former President Clinton campaign for their parties in last weekend before election day

Three days before the U.S. midterm election, candidates and key supporters - including President Bush and former President Clinton - were on the stump focusing on the economy and Iraq. U.S. President George W. Bush said Saturday (November 4) that Americans should vote to keep Republicans in control of Congress if they want to fend off higher taxes and if they want to finish the job in Iraq. Bush said the U.S. economy was strong under Republican leadership, citing the latest U.S. unemployment figures released Friday that showed the jobless rate dropped to a 5-year low in October. The President credited tax cuts with strengthening the economy, and said a Democratic majority in Congress would raise them. The President campaigned in Greeley, Colorado for local Congressional candidates. He told supporters there that Democrats don't have a plan for Iraq. The President said democrats "are in agreement on one thing. They will leave (Iraq) before the job is done. I'm not saying these people are unpatriotic. I'm just saying they're wrong." Democrats, feeling good about their chances of seizing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and possibly the Senate as well, said it was time for a change. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton rallied supporters in Detroit, Michigan, saying democrats offer the best path forward on the economy and on Iraq. "All over America, all over America, we have become both the progressive and the conservative party of America. If you're a conservative on the budget, if you believe in the rule of law, if you want to conserve our natural resources, if you want to conserve the welfare of our men and women in uniform, you have to be a democrat," Clinton said. Republicans currently dominate the U.S. Congress with majorities in both the House of Representatives, and Senate. Of the 435 members of the House, 230 are Republican. Two-hundred-one are Democrats, one is an independent, and three seats are currently vacant. Off the 100 members of the Senate, 55 are Republican, 44 are Democrats, and 1 is independent. But in this year's November 7 election, the political pendulum could swing - bringing Democrats back into power. The unpopular Iraq war has been the leading factor in Tuesday elections and there are alarm bells ringing for Republican candidates. A Newsweek poll released on Saturday said 54 percent of likely voters would vote for Democratic candidates and 38 percent for the Republicans. Bush's approval rating was 35 percent in the poll, which was taken on Thursday and Friday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The non-partisan Cook Political Report said Republican would be lucky to limit their losses in the House to 20-25 seats and four or five seats in the Senate. Democrats need 15 seats to command the House and six in the Senate. Meanwhile, about 30-thousand union activists in 25 states are trying to play a role in seizing power in Congress. They're getting out the vote in their states. AFL-CIO members in Northern Virginia were canvassing neighbourhoods, getting out the vote for Democrat James Webb, who's challenging Republican Incumbent George Allen for the Senate. Organizers say their goal this weekend is to knock on more than 3 million doors, make 5 million phone calls and pass out more than one million leaflets.

ITN Source | November 5, 2006

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