President Stomps for Forrester

After the campaign-style welcome rally in Trenton on Monday, Bush headed to a fund-raiser for Republican Douglas Forrester, seeking to unseat embattled Democratic incumbent Sen. Robert Torricelli.

A fund-raiser Monday for Republican Senate hopeful Douglas Forrester put $1.5 million in the party's coffers. The White House said that Bush has raised his total for GOP candidates this year to more than $117 million.

Bush is aggressively backing Republican candidates in an effort to recapture the Democratic-run Senate, which has been a graveyard for many of his initiatives. And Republicans have targeted New Jersey incumbent Robert Torricelli.

This summer, the Democrat was admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee for accepting gifts from a campaign donor.

Democrats, meanwhile, are moving to shore up Torricelli's image. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle campaigned for him in Trenton Monday.

Ousting Torricelli would be particularly sweet for Republicans. Torricelli was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2000, and helped Democrats gain control of the Senate.

A Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers poll earlier this month showed the race a statistical dead heat -- a dramatic reversal of fortune for Torricelli, who led Forrester by 14 percentage points in June.

In July, the Senate Ethics Committee "severely admonished" Torricelli after finding he accepted and failed to disclose gifts from David Chang, a businessman now serving an 18-month prison sentence for making illegal campaign donations. Forrester has made ethical issues central to his campaign.

Democrats said Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle would help raise some $500,000 for Torricelli's campaign and the party, and later join New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey and Torricelli at a union rally.

Bush was showing no signs of a slowdown six weeks before the November election, scheduling four fund-raisers in three states. Bush is aggressively backing Republican candidates in an effort to recapture the Democratic-run Senate, which has been a graveyard for many of his initiatives.

Bush has three other fund-raisers scheduled this week.

On Thursday in Houston, he'll headline his second money-raising event this year for John Cornyn, the GOP Senate nominee in Texas.

On Friday, he'll stump in Denver for Bob Beauprez, a House candidate with no elected experience in a tight contest for a newly created Colorado district.

Later that day, he plans to raise money in Phoenix for Arizona gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon.

Earlier in the day, Bush chided senators for not sending him legislation he wants that he says will reinvigorate the economy, including energy legislation, a measure guaranteeing terrorism insurance and appropriations bills that include restraints on federal spending.

"What's happening in the economy is not good enough for a stronger America and Congress can help," Bush said at the rally. "What we need in Washington is fiscal responsibility, fiscal sanity. We need to set priorities with your money. And the most important priority I have is to defend the homeland, to defend the homeland from a bunch of killers who hate America."

Bush's policy speech allowed the White House to bill taxpayers for a portion of the otherwise all-political trip.

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Author: Copyright 2002 by NBC 10. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.