The race for Congress has become so unexpectedly competitive that even President George W. Bush is trying to step in to prevent Democrats from winning a seat many thought a year ago was a lock for Republicans.

Bush is scheduled to come to the Sarasota-Bradenton area Oct. 24 to headline a rally for Republican Vern Buchanan, who concedes he is trailing Democrat Christine Jennings in his own internal polling by 3 percentage points, with early voting starting in less than a week.

It will be Bush's first return visit to the area since Sept. 11, 2001, when he received news of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center while attending an event at a Sarasota school.

...

While the visit has the potential to focus voters on the Republican agenda, political experts say there are great political risks in bringing in the president when his approval ratings are so low in most polling. In a FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll of 900 likely voters last week, 40 percent said they approved of the job Bush has done.

Many Republican candidates running for Congress are doing everything they can to keep from being linked to the president because of his poll numbers, Sabato said. But, when candidates are in real danger of losing, as Buchanan may be in the 13th Congressional District race, they take more chances, he said.

"If you are slipping behind, you start rolling the dice," Sabato said.

For those that haven't been following the saga of the 13th CD, multimillionaire Vern Buchanan has dumped almost $4 million of his personal fortune into his campaign to keep Katherine Harris's seat (almost all of which has been spent on negative advertising), making this officially the most expensive House race in America this cycle and, from what I can tell, putting Vern at #3 on the all-time list of self-funding House candidates.  This is a seat with a substantial Republican registration advantage.  Bush won this district with 54% in 2000, 56% in 2004.  And Vern Buchanan is currently polling twelve points behind Democratic candidate Christine Jennings.

Buchanan has tried everything: attacking Jennings for trying to raise small business taxes (she isn't), attacking Jennings for supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants (she doesn't), attacking Jennings for threatening Social Security (she hasn't), attacking Jennings for...well, you get the idea.  Unfortunately for Vern, every attack seems to put him further behind, and he's getting desperate.

So now, with nothing else left to lose, Vern has decided to bring President Bush to town (no word yet if he'll take the President to task for his immigration plan).
Vern Buchanan thinks this seat is for sale.  George Bush thinks he can hand this race to Vern.  We want to prove otherwise.  That's where you come in.

We want to send a message to Vern Buchanan and George Bush that their radical agenda has dominated for too long.  We want to send a message that "43" has become just another Lame Duck.  And what better way to send that message than by honoring the future Democratic President, number 44?
Please donate $44 dollars to Christine Jennings to show that we Democrats are looking towards the future of America and the new leadership that this country so desperately needs.
$44 dollars may not seem like a lot of money, but if we Democrats stand united and look beyond "43," then $44 can change America.

If you can't donate $44, that's okay!  Please give what you can, and tack on $0.44 to send your message to the Bush/Buchanan team that their time has passed.  Every cent helps!

Vern Buchanan may have said it best: "This isn't just about me. It is about maintaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives."  He wants to be in Congress to continue to give this Administration a blank check to run this country into the ground.  He wants to make sure that men like Dennis Hastert and Tom Reynolds escape accountability for their (in)actions.  He wants to keep Congress from performing its vital duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch.

For only $44 you can help Christine Jennings teach Bush and Buchanan one lesson they never learned: <u>you can't always get what you want!</u>