In Florida, Bush Touts Tax Cuts

Campaign Swing Focuses on Economy

ORLANDO, Sept. 21 -- President Bush accused Democrats on Thursday of preparing to raise taxes should they take over the House, as he pivoted to a different election-year theme after several weeks of trying to draw sharp differences on fighting terrorism.

On a campaign swing through the vote-rich Interstate 4 corridor of Florida, Bush cited the tax increases approved in Congress when it was last controlled by Democrats in 1993, as well as the opposition of many House Democrats to key aspects of his tax-cutting agenda.

"If they get control of the House of Representatives, they'll raise your taxes," Bush told several hundred supporters at a fundraiser in Tampa. "It will hurt our economy, and that's why we're not going to let them get control."

Democrats scoffed at the president's assertion. "This president has added $2.7 trillion to the nation's debt, and every year he has been president, he has run a deficit," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), who is heading the Democratic campaign to regain the House.

The sharp exchange signaled the intensifying battle for control of Congress, where the Republicans face a strong Democratic challenge in both houses. It was the first time in two weeks that Bush has made public appearances on behalf of GOP candidates. Some polls have shown modest improvement in the president's anemic political standing since the fifth-anniversary commemorations of the Sept. 11 attacks.

White House aides said the president plans in the coming weeks to be heavily engaged in the midterm elections, with stops scheduled on behalf of endangered Sen. Mike DeWine and Rep. Deborah Pryce in Ohio, Senate hopeful Bob Corker in Tennessee, the Connecticut Republican Party, and the reelection bid of Alabama Gov. Bob Riley. Many of these events will be closed fundraisers, though one senior official said Bush is expected to participate in get-out-the-vote events in GOP strongholds such as southwest Missouri and eastern Iowa.

Several of Bush's recent political appearances have been focused on terrorism, with only a modest nod to the traditional GOP tax-cutting agenda. But Thursday, at separate appearances on behalf of GOP House candidate Gus Bilirakis and gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, Bush sought to draw a sharp difference between Democrats and Republicans on taxes. A homeowner revolt over taxes and insurance costs is roiling this critical battleground state, according to Florida political analysts.

The president zeroed in on comments this week by Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), who would take over the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee if the Democrats win back the majority. Rangel told Bloomberg News that he "cannot think of one" of Bush's first-term tax cuts that merits renewal.

Bush told the crowd in Tampa, "That's one way of saying they're going to raise your taxes, because, you see, if you don't extend the tax cuts, your taxes go up."

The reference to Rangel -- though not by name -- came with ironic timing. It was the same day that the veteran congressman called a news conference in Washington to defend the president against the attacks this week by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the United Nations and at a Harlem church. Those attacks, as well as jibes from the Iranian president, seem to have energized Bush's political base.

Rangel told reporters: "I just want to make it abundantly clear to Hugo Chavez or any other president: Do not come to the United States and think because we have problems with our president that any foreigner can come to our country and not think that Americans do not feel offended when you offend our chief of state."

After the speech, Rangel said a top priority will be offering families relief from the alternative minimum tax. He also said he will review "tax breaks for the wealthy that no one has asked for and have driven our nation deeper into debt."

Republicans said the president collected about $450,000 for Bilirakis, who is aspiring to the seat held by his father, Michael, for the past 12 terms in the Tampa area. The GOP nominee is favored, but Democrat Phyllis Busansky is waging an aggressive campaign. Bush also stopped by football practice to offer a pep talk for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have started the season with two losses, before moving on to Orlando for a Crist fundraiser.

Crist, the Florida attorney general, is leading in the polls against the Democratic nominee, Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa, but the race is considered competitive. At the fundraiser, Bush was joined onstage by brother Jeb Bush, the Florida governor -- ineligible for reelection because of term limits. Conspicuously not on stage, but in the audience, was another GOP statewide candidate, Senate nominee Katherine Harris, who is struggling to unseat Sen. Bill Nelson. Bush urged the Orlando crowd to support her candidacy.

Political researcher Zachary A. Goldfarb in Washington contributed to this report.