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Bush to make rare campaign visit Bush condemns gay rights ruling
(1 day later)
President George W Bush is due to visit the state of Iowa, in the country's heartland, to campaign with Republican Congressional candidate Jeff Lamberti. President George W Bush has used a rare campaign appearance to condemn a New Jersey verdict giving gay couples the same rights as heterosexual couples.
The visit comes amid a growing debate over whether the president should or should not be campaigning harder in the 7 November mid-term elections. The president accused the "activist court" of raising doubts about the "sacred institution of marriage".
Polls suggest that the Democrats may be on course to win control of one or both houses of Congress. Mr Bush was speaking in Iowa, where he was backing a congressional candidate.
Mr Bush is doing much less campaigning than he has in previous elections. With polls suggesting the Democrats may win in Congress, observers say there is a debate over the role Mr Bush should play in the 7 November mid-term ballot.
href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/americas/06/vote_usa/html/15.stm" class="">Key races: Iowa The White House desperately wants the Republicans to win, to keep control of Congress - but many Republican candidates have made it plain that they do not see the president as a vote winner in their districts. The White House desperately wants the Republicans to win, to keep control of Congress - but many Republican candidates have made it plain that they do not see the president as a vote-winner in their districts, the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says.
Many have turned down the opportunity for Air Force One to touch down near them and those who have entertained the president have tended to do it in private, raising funds from the party faithful but keeping publicity to a minimum. Conservative appeal
The White House is also feeling ambivalent about deeper involvement in an election which so far has not been going the Republicans' way. On Thursday, after signing into a law an immigration bill authorising the construction of a fence along parts of the Mexican border, Mr Bush headed to Iowa to raise money for Republican Jeff Lamberti.
One insider told ABC News "we want to keep our fingerprints off this mess". href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/americas/06/vote_usa/html/15.stm" class="">Key races: Iowa href="/1/hi/world/americas/5386106.stm" class="">Key issues Mr Lamberti - whom the president mistakenly referred to as "Dave", according to the Associated Press news agency - is trailing his Democratic opponent Leonard Boswell by more than 10 percentage points, polls suggests.
Mr Bush used the opportunity to appeal to conservative voters who oppose gay marriage - an issue which is said to have won the Republicans many votes in the 2004 elections.
"Yesterday [Wednesday] in New Jersey we had another activist court that issued a ruling that raises doubts about the institution of marriage," the president said.
"I believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman. And I believe it's a sacred institution that is critical to the health of our society and the wellbeing of families, and it must be defended."
The Republican Party's gubernatorial candidate in the state, Jim Nussle, did not appear with the president, saying he had a scheduling conflict.
But his opponent, Democrat Chet Culver, accused him of "running and hiding" from Mr Bush because of the president's low popularity ratings.
After Iowa, the president attended a fundraising event for senatorial candidate Mike Bouchard who is trailing incumbent Debbie Stabenow in the polls.
A third of the Senate, the whole House of Representatives and 36 governorships are up for election on 7 November.
The Democrats need to pick up six seats to gain control of the Senate, and 15 House seats to have a majority there.