By Associated Press
Springfield, MO – President Bush is using today's Missouri visit to blast Democrats, accusing them of not having a plan to keep America safe from terrorists. At a Springfield rally for Senator Jim Talent, Bush said Democrats calling for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq aren't unpatriotic, just wrong. He said Democrats who voted against legislation to detain and interrogate suspected terrorists, the NSA's eavesdropping program and the Patriot Act don't understand the stakes in the war on terror.
Bush said Republicans have a plan for victory, and "part of our plan is to send Jim Talent back to the United States Senate."
Thousands cheered as Bush strode into the Springfield Exposition Center to boost Talent's campaign. Talent is facing a strong challenge from Democrat Claire McCaskill, and the race is a statistical dead heat in most polls.
Missouri's Senate race is intertwined with a ballot measure that would engrave the right to conduct embryonic stem cell research into the state constitution. McCaskill supports it; Talent opposes it. Bush didn't mention it.