Bush Hits the Campaign Trail in Big Sky Country

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ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

And I'm Melissa Block.

On ground, in the mail and on the airwaves, Democrats and Republicans are making their last pushes ahead of the midterm elections. In a few minutes we'll hear what's going on in an extremely tight race for the Senate in Missouri. We'll also check in on some important House races in Indiana.

SIEGEL: First, President Bush headed west today to do his part for some Republican candidates. He flew to Billings, Montana, where he appeared with the party's sitting members of the House and Senate and he urged the state to send their Republican senator back to Washington.

President GEORGE W. BUSH: When it comes to taxes, the Democrats are going to tax whoever they can find, and we're not going to let them because we're going to put Conrad Burns back in the United States Senate.

(Soundbite of applause)

SIEGEL: And then it was on to the high plains town of Elko in the northeastern corner of Nevada, where he stumped for that state's incumbent Republicans in the House and Senate. One of them, Jim Gibbons, is now running for governor.

NPR's Don Gonyea is traveling with the president and joins us now from the airport in Elko where I gather the president is speaking. Don, is there a theme for the president's stretch run?

DON GONYEA: Yes, and hopefully you can hear me over the top of him. It's very loud in the background. But Robert, plain and simple, it is get out the vote. And the president is saying at everyone of these speeches at the end of it, his call to action is that people need to get out and vote and that they need to bring a friend with them to the polls. It's that simple. They think that so many of these close races are going to turn on which party has a better turnout operation.

And also it's worth saying here, he's not trying to win anyone over with these speeches. He is just trying to make sure that the faithful are motivated and out there next Tuesday.

It is, of course, a speech that talks about how the president perceives the differences between Republicans and Democrats. We heard him just a few seconds ago talking about taxes in Montana. It's the same speech here in Nevada. The other part of it that is a consistent, recurring theme is that Democrats as a party make the wrong choices on national security.

SIEGEL: Specifically, what does the president say about Iraq, which is for many, many voters the dominant issue in this election and it's an issue in which the president doesn't fare well in the polls?

GONYEA: And we know it's an issue that Republicans don't like to talk about much, but the president clearly has to talk about it. It really defines his presidency, and he gets to it about halfway into this 40 minute stump speech he's giving. The theme is familiar, that progress is being made, that he has a strategy and a plan for victory. There are always words of admiration for the U.S. military. And the other side of it is that Democrats seem to only view Iraq as a distraction, that they don't take Iraq seriously enough as part of the war on terror.

SIEGEL: Don, after today the president is going on to Iowa and Missouri tomorrow, and then after the weekend or at the weekend, where is he going next?

GONYEA: All these states have something in common. They're red states. And that will continue through the weekend, states that the president carried. He is going to go to Colorado, Arkansas, Florida, Nebraska and then on election eve he ends up in Dallas, Texas.

The White House says it's a matter of the president going where there are races where he can make a difference, but clearly there are places he is avoiding because he knows his presence there would create problems for Republicans and actually energize Democratic voters.

SIEGEL: Well, thank you, Don.

GONYEA: My pleasure.

SIEGEL: That's NPR's Don Gonyea, who is traveling with President Bush.

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