Bush accuses Democrats of being soft on terror

US President George Bush, campaigning in a Republican stronghold for an endangered Republican senator, tried to rally his supporters today by portraying Democrats as soft on terrorists and opposed to conservative judges.

Republicans are struggling to retain control of Congress in the November 7 nationwide elections.

Bush chided Democrats who voted against legislation to detain and interrogate suspected terrorists and the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping programme.

“When it comes to listening to the terrorists, what’s the Democrats’ answer? Just say no,”’ Bush said, urging the audience to play along.

“When it comes to detaining terrorists, what’s the Democrats’ answer?”

“Just say no!” the audience retorted.

“So when the Democrats ask for your vote on November 7, what’s your answer?” Bush asked.

“Just say no!” the crowd screamed.

Bush campaigned for Senator Conrad Burns, a vulnerable Republican incumbent in a tough campaign battle against Democratic challenger Jon Tester, the president of the Montana Senate.

Tester was holding rallies of his own on the other side of the state today with fellow Democrats Governor Brian Schweitzer and Senator Max Baucus.

With polls showing the public opposed to the war in Iraq, Democrats have expressed increasing optimism in recent days that they will gain the 15 seats they need to win control of the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats are up for election.

Democrats must pick up six seats to win the 100-member Senate, a tougher challenge in part because only 33 Senate seats are up for a vote, and both parties made last-minute efforts to increase the number of competitive races.

Montana was Bush’s first stop on his finalpush to election day that includes stops in Nevada, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas and Florida.

The rally had the flavour of Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign. Speakers blared Bush’s campaign theme song, Only in America, and the president opened his remarks with a comment he used in 2004: “It’s good to be in a part of the world where the cowboy hats outnumber the ties.”

Bush, invigorated by the rally, gleefully predicted that Republicans will retain control of Congress, just as they retained control of the White House in 2004, he said.

“The movers never got the call,” Bush said. “The same thing is going to happen on November 7.

"We will win the Senate and we will win the House.”