Desperate Times

"But there was Mr. Bush on Monday afternoon at the Sugar Land Municipal Airport, prodding thousands of screaming partisans to vote for Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, the congressional candidate whose name the party couldn't even get on the ballot."

Gillman writes that "with his approval rating percentage in the mid-30s, options have dwindled for places he might make a positive difference. Sugar Land made the cut, and that suited Democrats just fine."

And who was allowed in? "Access to the rallies was tightly controlled. County GOP officials offered tickets to people who volunteered to make phone calls or do door-to-door campaigning this weekend."

As for the order of the day in Sugar Land, Gillman writes: "Mr. Bush offered a tutorial at Monday's rally -- and bungled it. 'If you want to send Shelley to the United States Congress,' he instructed, 'you're going to have to take a pencil into the ballot box.'

"In fact, pencils aren't an option. New electronic voting machines will be used throughout the district, and many Republicans fear she won't collect her full share of support because of the tedious and unfamiliar way voters would have to dial in her unwieldy name, letter by letter."

Martha Raddatz reports for ABC News: "In every one of these places, the president will deliver his new rallying cry: Just say no, to Democrats. . . .

"But there are plenty of Republican candidates who have said no to George Bush, feeling his presence, with the black cloud of Iraq hanging over him, can only hurt their chances."

Gay Marriage

Bush is also enthusiastically throwing a hot-button issue with social conservatives into the mix.

Jennifer Loven writes for the Associated Press: "President Bush has for months cast the midterm elections as a choice about just two issues: taxes and terrorism. Now, with polls predicting bleak results for Republicans, he is trying to fire up his party by decrying gay marriage.

"'For decades, activist judges have tried to redefine America by court order,' Bush said Monday. 'Just this last week in New Jersey, another activist court issued a ruling that raises doubt about the institution of marriage. We believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman, and should be defended.'

"The line earned Bush by far his most sustained applause at a rally of 5,000 people aimed at boosting former GOP Rep. Max Burns' effort to unseat a Democratic incumbent. In this conservative rural corner of eastern Georgia, even children jumped to their feet alongside their parents to cheer and clap for nearly 30 seconds -- a near-eternity in political speechmaking."

Bush's New Trick

Rather than accurately describe the Democrats' positions on key issues, the president puts forth a ludicrous mockery of their position -- then gets his audience to participate in jeering at it. But the media doesn't call him on it.