The Red-State Revue, Starring G.W. Bush

For Bush's final campaign swing, Rove tapped powerful presidential symbols. Bush's arrival for a Thursday rally at the airport in Elko, Nev., was choreographed so the crowd on the tarmac cheered as Air Force One swooped out of the sky to heroic theme music from the movie "Top Gun." When the familiar blue-and-white Boeing 747-200B rolled right up to the rally, the loudspeakers switched to the soundtrack from the film "Air Force One." All that was missing was Harrison Ford.

Still, symbolism works for and against politicians. Bush was the first sitting president to visit Elko since 1932, when Herbert Hoover stopped there the day before being swept out of office by Franklin D. Roosevelt. And Bush being Bush, sometimes the speeches don't come out exactly right.

In Billings, comparing the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to World War II, he noted that at Pearl Harbor "we lost fewer people than we did at the World Trade Center and in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at the Pentagon." United Flight 93 actually crashed at Shanksville, Pa., a full 137 miles from Lancaster.

He regularly mangles the name of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. And at a rally last week in Des Moines, Bush made a confident prediction: "No doubt in my mind, with your help, Dave Lamberti will be the next United States congressman." Only problem: Lamberti's first name is Jeff.

The president plays off such gaffes with practiced humor. Appearing beside Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), who has suffered from foot-in-the-mouth disease several times in this campaign, Bush noted that the senator can be "rough on the English language." He then added: "Where have I heard that before?"

Even so, for a man with fewer and fewer friends in Washington, it can be invigorating to be back out here among fans, where the protests are fewer and more sparsely attended. About 5,000 turned out to see him support Sen. James M. Talent (R-Mo.) at the Springfield Exposition Center, including 10 shirtless young men who painted letters on their chests to spell out "VOTE TALENT," and Larry Gatlin, the country music legend and longtime friend whose son, Josh, works at the White House. A similar crowd came to see Bush in nearby Joplin.

Even when a sour note turns up, it is quickly overwhelmed in these Bush bastions. The president made a stop Friday in a jampacked, sweltering high school gymnasium in Le Mars, Iowa, the self-styled ice cream capital of the world. At one point, someone in the crowd held up a painted sign that said "Impeach." Bush supporters pulled it down as the room erupted in boos. Then, following instructions given before the rally for how to drown out hecklers, volunteers started chanting "USA! USA!"

Bush plowed on with his speech as if nothing happened. The crowd responded with raucous applause, cheers and foot-stamping as if rooting their Bulldogs to a basketball title. "Cheerleaders (Heart) Bush," said one sign. In that room, in that moment, at least, the polls seemed far away.