DALLAS, Texas (AFP)
US President George W. Bush made his final plea to voters hours before hard-fought congressional elections, branding opposition Democrats as tax-raisers who are soft on terrorism.
Recycling a message that served him well in the mid-term 2002 elections and the White House race two years later, Bush told armies of Republican faithful that "we're at war" with terrorists and said Democrats have "no plan" to win.
"Harsh criticism is not a plan for victory. Second-guessing is not a strategy," he told thousands of supporters here. "We have a plan. Stick with us and the country will be better off."
Bush, weakened by Iraq, lent his diminished political star-power to gubernatorial candidates in three states where the outcome is not seriously in doubt and dismissed polls that gave Democrats an edge in Tuesday's contest.
"I knew we were going to finish strong," he said in the Republican stronghold of Pensacola, Florida, the state that gave him the presidency in 2000 after a recount battle that went all the way to the highest US court.
"I urge you to do your duty in this great democracy, and that is to exercise your right as an individual to determine the course of this nation," said Bush, who also campaigned in Arkansas and Texas.
"If you want your taxes low, vote Republican. And as you go to the polls, remember, we're at war. And if you want this country to do everything in its power to protect you and, at the same time, lay the foundation of peace for generations to come, vote Republican," he said.
But Bush suffered one final campaign trail indignity, as the Republican candidate to succeed the president's brother Jeb as Florida governor snubbed him at a rally, apparently wary of Bush's low poll ratings.
The president was to cast his ballot in his tiny adoptive hometown of Crawford, Texas, early Tuesday, then head back to Washington to watch the results of elections that will shape his final two years in office.
With Democrats hoping to make the election a referendum on the unpopular Iraq war, Bush again seized on the death sentence decreed against Saddam Hussein on Sunday as a vindication for the US-led March 2003 invasion.
"My decision to get rid of Saddam Hussein was the right decision, and the world is better for it," he said, as the crowd burst into a chant of "USA! USA!"
But the low opinion poll ratings which have dogged Bush during the campaign were highlighted again when Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist dropped out of the rally at the last minute.
Bush quickly made clear he did not bear Crist a grudge, telling the crowd: "Tomorrow you get to vote for a new governor, and I strongly suggest you vote for Charlie Crist."
But Bush's political guru Karl Rove was not impressed.
"All I know is that yesterday morning they apparently made a decision that rather than being with the governor and the president and 10,000 people in Pensacola, they made a last minute decision to go to Palm Beach," said Rove.
Bush was wrapping up a five-day, 10-state campaign blitz buoyed by signs his Republican party was picking up steam in the final hours.
One Republican who did not snub Bush here was Katherine Harris, the former senior Florida official reviled by Democrats for her role in the dramatic 2000 recount controversy -- but she was far away from the president.
Harris trails badly in a Senate race against Democrat Bill Nelson, after what many analysts decried as a chaotic campaign.
Several national polls in the final hours of the campaign showed a narrowing of the race, prompting Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman to proclaim voters were discovering new "enthusiasm" for Republicans.
A Washington Post and ABC television poll showed likely voters favoring Democrats to Republicans by 51 percent to 45 percent. In an October 22 survey, the Democrats had led 55-41.
The non-partisan Pew Research Center found a 47-43 lead for Democrats among likely voters, down from 50-39 two weeks ago.
A new USA Today/Gallup survey published Monday showed Democratic challengers ahead in Senate races in Montana, Rhode Island, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
A poll for McClatchy newspapers and MSNBC meanwhile suggested Republicans had also come from behind in Rhode Island and Montana, to lead or tie Democrat opponents.