President Bush comes to southwest Missouri in an effort to energize the Republican base in Missouri prior to an important election on Tuesday. Bush has spoken both at Springfield and Joplin, urging Republicans to go to the polls Tuesday and to talk up Talent and the rest of the Republican field to their neighbors and friends. Senator Jim Talent, the incumbent Republican, is in the political race of his life against Democrat Claire McCaskill. The two have been neck-an-neck in the public opinion polls. Political pundits say the race could determine whether Republicans hang on to control of the United State Senate in Washington or yield control to Democrats. The Bush rallies in Missouri come as part of the president’s criss-crossing of the country on behalf of Republican candidates. The president is trying to defy the predictions of many political experts that the Republican Party will lose control of the US House and, possibly, the Senate during these mid-term elections. A victory by Talent Tuesday would drastically hurt efforts by the Democratic Party to seize control of the chamber. Bush keeps repeating at rallies that Republicans need to “turn out the vote” and “get out and vote”. He has been quick to thank grassroots activists; those that the president says put up the signs, make the telephone calls and turn out the vote. Bush says that work is essential in Talent’s re-election campaign. Bush says the political pundits in Washington, D.C. have already decided who will win the election. He says they have been wrong before and will be wrong this time.
