Race for Congress hangs in balance

The mid-term election campaign in America moved into its final week yesterday with no sign that intense campaigning by President Bush had broken the deadlock between Demo-crats and Republicans.

Crises over Iraq and North Korea loom large, but for the past three weeks Mr Bush has been criss-crossing the country, backing Republican Senate and House candidates whose races will decide the division of power in the new Congress.

In the course of his travels, Mr Bush has smashed fundraising records, raking in an estimated $140m this year before tough campaigning finance laws take effect after next November.

His is a high-risk strategy. Critics would say he is neglecting the world stage for partisan gain and putting his prestige on the line by focusing on domestic politics. If the Republicans lose control of Capitol Hill, Mr Bush will be blamed.

With six campaigning days left, the battle between the two parties was close last night. Analysts say the Democrats can't win the half-dozen seats needed to reclaim the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994.

The outcome of the Senate, in which the Democrats hold a single-seat 50-49 edge, hinges on contests in Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Minnesota – where former vice-president Walter Mondale was expected to announce he would replace the late Senator Paul Wellstone on the Democratic ticket.

Mr Wellstone's family said they did not want Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, to attend yesterday's memorial service for the senator, who died in a plane crash on October 25.

The official reason was that the family wished to avoid intense security precautions. But the family and Minnesota Democrats were said to be furious at Republican sniping at Mr Mondale before Mr Wellstone's funeral.

Both parties are mobilising lawyers to avoid a Florida 2000-style imbroglio. Mr Bush signed into law yesterday a bipartisan electoral reform bill, the Help America Vote Act, to cut fraud and give states $3.9bn to update voting systems.

The new law may be in effect for the 2004 congressional and presidential battles, when Mr Bush will probably be bidding for a second White House term. But it will not affect next week's vote.