President George W. Bush has cast his ballot in the too-close-to-call U.S. mid-term elections before returning to the White House to see whether his record fund-raising and all-out campaigning paid off with history-making gains for Republicans.
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A voter in Florida uses an electronic ballot paper to vote in the mid-term elections. Reuters.
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With his presidential clout -- and legislative agenda -- on the line, Bush mounted a marathon turn-out-the-vote drive in the run-up to the election with the goal of erasing the Democrats' one-seat majority in the Senate and keeping Republicans in control of the House of Representatives.
"I hope people vote. I'm encouraging all people across this country to vote," Bush said on Tuesday at a humble firehouse near his Crawford, Texas, ranch, where he voted with his wife, Laura.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 34 of 100 Senate seats and 36 state governorships are at stake in an election that will decide who controls Congress.
White House aides expressed confidence in the outcome.
When asked how he thought Republicans would do in the Senate, Bush, dressed in blue jeans, a leather jacket and cowboy boots, flashed a thumbs-up sign to waiting reporters.
Bush invested an enormous amount of time and political capital on the congressional elections, and recruited candidates to run in hotly-contested races.
Bush attended some 65 fund-raisers this year, helping to bring in more than $140 million (89.5 million pounds) for Republican candidates and the party as a whole. And he received daily campaign updates from his top advisers as Election Day approached.
In the final five days of the campaign, Bush visited 17 cities in 15 states, including Florida, where he stumped for his brother, Governor Jeb Bush.
Before heading to his ranch on Monday night, Bush made a final campaign swing to target the Senate's weakest Democrat, Senator Jean Carnahan of Missouri, and to support its most vulnerable Republican, Senator Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas.
LAST-MINUTE STOP
During a last-minute stop in Minnesota, Bush urged voters still in mourning to replace the late Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone with his challenger, Republican Norm Coleman. The visit drew fire from some Democrats since it came just days after Wellstone's memorial service, which Bush did not attend.
The party in command of the White House traditionally loses seats in mid-term elections. The Bush team hopes the president's popularity, boosted by his declared war on terror, will help buck the tide despite a lacklustre economy.
"All signs give a lot of reason to be optimistic that the trend can be broken," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said as Bush wrapped up his cross-country campaign drive.
But Fleischer added: "It remains an open question about whether or not Republicans pick up seats. There are just an awful lot of close races across the country right now, and there's no telling how they're going to break, particularly in the Senate."
Bush could become the third president in a century to gain House seats in a midterm election after Franklin Roosevelt in 1934 and Bill Clinton in 1998.
Bush spent the night before the election at his secluded Crawford ranch with his wife, who celebrated her 56th birthday on Monday. Election Day was also their 25th wedding anniversary.
Bush was coy when asked what gifts he gave his wife. "Not telling," Bush told reporters. "Let me just say that I remembered."
After voting in Crawford, Bush headed back to Washington where a White House "command centre" will track the election results into the night.
"The president is watching it very closely," Fleischer said of the election, noting that the outcome will "be a real indication of whether or not the president's agenda has a better chance of being passed in the Congress."