US President George W Bush, faced with polls that show his party's hold on Congress slipping, said today that Democrats haven't won anything yet.
"You know what I know — this election is far from over," Bush said at a Republican rally at Georgia Southern University, campaigning for House candidate Max Burns.
He mocked talk of Democrats already considering which offices they'll take if they win control of Congress.
"You might remember that about this time in 2004, some of them were picking out their new offices in the West Wing," Bush said of his own re-election bid. "The movers never got the call."
As the last campaign week before the Nov. 7 election got under way, Bush targeted the South.
Republicans, bracing for election losses in the House, figure they can buck that trend by winning two Democratic seats in Georgia. Underscoring the stakes, Bush was to spend much of his day in the state and come back Tuesday for a rally about 130 miles west, in Perry.
The midterm elections will heavily influence the last two years of the Bush presidency. With control, Democrats could stifle Bush's agenda and aggressively investigate his administration.
Bush's popularity has long eroded in a nation weary of the war in Iraq, where the last month has been one of the deadliest for American forces.
A new Associated Press-AOL News poll shows that likely voters — angry at Bush and citing Iraq and the economy as their top issues — overwhelmingly prefer Democrats over Republicans.
Yet Bush was in friendly territory in rural Georgia, a state he twice won comfortably.
In rolled-up shirt sleeves, Bush fired up a basketball gym of roughly 5,000 people. He spoke in front of an enormous US flag.
Protesters were steered to a "free-speech zone" elsewhere on campus.
Republicans are targeting two conservative Democrats in Georgia: first-term Rep. John Barrow and two-term Rep. Jim Marshall. Both face former congressmen.
In the eastern district where Bush campaigned Monday, Barrow is in a rematch with Burns, a retired professor at Georgia Southern who served one term in the House before losing in 2004.
Bush was heading later to his home state of Texas, again rallying for local candidates.
Republican Shelley Sekula-Gibbs is mounting a write-in campaign to replace the fallen DeLay, who was dogged by money laundering charges and forced to resign from Congress.
Democrats must gain 15 seats to win the House, and six to take the Senate.
Bush plans to headline Republican get-out-the-vote rallies until the election. His schedule will also leave openings to raise last-minute money for candidates needing a boost.