Democrats claim momentum, Republicans hope to mobilize base as Nov. 7 vote nears

WASHINGTON -- Republicans on Sunday said a major voter turnout effort would help them stay in power after the Nov. 7 elections, while Democrats claimed momentum as they seek to tap into voter unhappiness over Iraq.\nBoth sides agreed that the war in Iraq was a leading, if not central, issue in the contests to decide control of the House and Senate.\n"This election is becoming more and more a referendum on George Bush, his failed policies both overseas and at home with a rubber stamp Congress," said Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, head of the Senate Democratic campaign committee.\nHis Republican counterpart, Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, said Iraq and the broader fight against terrorism were important issues, but "President Bush's name is not on the ballot." Democrats, she said, were trying "to make it a national referendum."\nSchumer and Dole were among the politicians and party leaders who sparred on the Sunday talk shows just nine days before the elections.\nDemocrats need a gain of 15 seats to win control of the 435-member House and six seats to claim the 100-member Senate.\nWith approval slumping for both the war and the president, recent polls show Democrats have their best chance to reclaim the House since the GOP swept them from power in 1994 and a shot at capturing the Senate as well.\nAs the candidates entered their final full week of campaigning, House Democrats worked to emphasize the GOP role in the Iraq war. The party's campaign committee said it would air television commercials criticizing Republicans for supporting the war in about a dozen competitive races in the coming days.\n"Despite a war gone wrong and no plan for victory, politicians like (Rep.) Rob Simmons keep voting to stay the course again and again," says one commercial, airing in Connecticut.\nDemocrats have increased the number of races where they are advertising in recent days, a sign of confidence as the election approaches. In addition to new offensives in Kansas, Kentucky and New Hampshire, officials disclosed plans to run commercials against Republican Rep. Jim Walsh this week in the area around Syracuse, N.Y.\nHouse Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said polls showing a Democratic advantage, especially in the House, "don't mean anything because what we have are 435 individual races all around the country, local candidates running on local issues."\n"If we mobilize all our voters, we'll do well on Election Day," Boehner said.\n"The pundits are looking at this as a national election," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. "This election is district-by-district. It's about members of Congress getting out and talking to their constituents about what they've been able to accomplish."\nKen Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, sounded a common Republican theme -- that a Democratic-led Congress would mean higher taxes. Democrats accused him of scare tactics.\nMehlman suggested "across-the-board tax increases affecting millions of Americans" if Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel became chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. The New York lawmaker is now the panel's senior Democrat.\nLast week, Vice President Dick Cheney contended Rangel wanted to undo popular tax cuts enacted during Bush's first term. Cheney's claim was based in part on Rangel's own remark that he could not think of one of Bush's tax cuts that merited renewal.