Republican split could lose South Dakota vote for Bush
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Your support makes all the difference.The White House is mounting a big effort to restore unity in Republican ranks, where the massive budget deficit, social issues and divisions over Iraq are undermining President George Bush's prospects of re-election this autumn.
The White House is mounting a big effort to restore unity in Republican ranks, where the massive budget deficit, social issues and divisions over Iraq are undermining President George Bush's prospects of re-election this autumn.
With poll after poll showing Mr Bush's ratings on the slide, the Democrats are hoping the divisions will help them win an important Congressional election yesterday in the Republican plains state of South Dakota.
If they pull it off, it will be further proof of how traditional political behaviour has been reversed. Solid behind their candidate John Kerry, the once fractious Democrats have become the unified party, while the normally disciplined Republicans are splintering along a host of fault lines - above all Iraq.
Yesterday, the President entered the fray with an impromptu press conference where he tried to assure doubters that he has a policy on Iraq, which is working. The string of recent setbacks there, after the swift success of the March 2003 invasion, has opened a rift between traditional Republican conservatives, who all along have argued against military intervention, and the neo-conservatives who pressed hardest for the ousting of Saddam Hussein.
Mr Bush has come under fire from both wings: traditionalists say he has bogged the US down in unnecessary conflict, but the neo-conservatives argue that the military campaign has not gone far enough. A separate split has emerged over fiscal policy, with conservatives bemoaning the massive federal budget deficit, at a record of almost $500bn (£273bn) this year.
In the Senate, four Republican senators, led by John McCain of Arizona, are now refusing to approve the 2004/2005 budget plan without a guaranteed mechanism to restore balance. The President's conservative social policies have created a divide too.
Voters in South Dakota are choosing a replacement for the their previous Republican congressman Bill Janklow, who resigned after being jailed for manslaughter in a car accident.
A win would kindle Democrat hopes that, despite all the odds, they can recapture the House of Representatives this November. Though the Republican margin is small - 228 seats to 207 - redistricting and other demographic developments have led to only 30 to 40 of the 435 seats being truly competitive.
Winning just one chamber on Capitol Hill would break the Republican monopoly of power. Even if Mr Bush did win a second term, a Democratic majority in Senate or House could block much of his agenda.
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