WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush returned to campaign mode Tuesday, traveling to Louisiana for political appearances to boost the election chances of Suzanne Haik Terrell, who is trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu in Saturday's run-off election.
Terrell, Louisiana's commissioner of elections, is in an uphill race against the incumbent, who garnered 46 percent of the vote on Nov. 5 against eight other candidates. Terrell finished the contest in second place with 27 percent.
Louisiana's election system does not provide for primaries. To win election, a candidate must get more than 50 percent of the vote in the general election.
"I'm here in the great state of Louisiana urging all the citizens ... to go to the polls this Saturday," Bush said at a coliseum in Shreveport. "But I have a suggestion ... ."
Terrell, he said, is "the kind of person I can work with to get things done," and "I'm counting on you to do everything you can to send this good woman to the United States Senate."
The comments, and subsequent remarks, were a reprise of the stump speech used throughout the midterm elections, in which Republicans gained seats in the House and regained control of the Senate, where they now have a 51-48 majority.
Absent, however, were the remarks of a Democratically controlled Senate holding up important legislation, such as the Homeland Security bill and terrorism insurance, both of which were passed by a lame duck session of the 107th Congress. Instead, the president hailed what had been accomplished in Washington, while saying much more needed to be done.
Terrell, he said, would help make earlier tax cuts permanent, help him achieve a new energy bill and provide prescription medicine to senior citizens.
"We're making progress up there (in Washington)," he said. "Suzi's election will help us make more progress."
Following his remarks in Shreveport, Bush was traveling to New Orleans, where he was to speak at a Terrell for Senate luncheon.
The White House said Bush hopes to raise about $1.25 million for Terrell's campaign.
Bush was returning to Washington late Tuesday afternoon.
