United States President George W. Bush. - File

GREELEY, Colorado (Reuters):

United States President George W. Bush warned yesterday that Democrats would raise taxes if they win control of the U.S. Congress in Tuesday's elections and Democrats vowed to fight for a new course in Iraq in a final, frantic weekend of campaigning.

At the same time, several newspapers widely read by U.S. military personnel called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his handling of the war, rejecting Bush's stated plan to retain Rumsfeld for the remaining two years of his presidency.

"Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised," the Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times said in an editorial to be published on Monday.

"This is not about the midterm elections. Regardless of which party wins November 7, the time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth: Donald Rumsfeld must go," the newspapers said.

The newspapers are published by the Military Times Media Group, a subsidiary of Gannett Co. Inc. which also publishes USA Today.

Bush used his weekly radio address for partisan purposes as part of a 10-state blitz through Republican strongholds trying to drum up enough turnout from party faithful to turn back a strong challenge by Democrats for command of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

TAX CUTS

A Newsweek poll released on Saturday said 54 per cent of likely voters would vote for the Democratic candidates and 38 per cent for the Republicans. Bush's approval rating was 35 per cent in the poll, which was taken on Thursday and Friday and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Speaking at the Mile High Coffee shop in Englewood, Colorado, after breakfast with small business owners, Bush said if Democrats win, they would let expire tax cuts he credits for boosting the U.S. economy.

"The choice you make on Tuesday will have a direct impact on our economy," Bush said. "The last thing American families and small businesses need now is a higher tax bill, and that is what you'll get if the Democrats take control of the Congress."

Later, he was to headline a rally in Greeley for Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, who is trying to survive a challenge to her House seat, before flying to his Crawford, Texas, ranch to celebrate first lady Laura Bush's 60th birthday.

In the Democratic radio address, Lois Murphy, a House candidate from Pennsylvania looking to unseat Republican incumbent Rep. Jim Gerlach, said it is time for a new direction in the Iraq war.

"From the outset when this new Congress convenes in January, Democrats will tackle the challenges that we face head on. We will fight for a new direction in Iraq to change the president's failed course so that our troops can finally come home," she said.

Bush has made defending the unpopular Iraq war and explaining why America must stay in it a central theme of his campaign to try to head off a Democratic takeover of one or both houses of Congress.

Polls show Democrats may be poised to take control of at least one chamber of Congress in Tuesday's elections, largely due to anger over the war.

While Bush has emphasized flexibility in recent weeks in how the war can be fought, dropping his "stay-the-course" rhetoric, Vice President Dick Cheney told ABC News in an interview on Friday that it would be "full speed ahead" with the war regardless of who wins on Tuesday.

Asked how the election would influence Iraq policy, Cheney replied: "I think it will have some effect, perhaps, in the Congress, but the president has made clear what his objective is. It is victory in Iraq and it is full speed ahead on that basis and that is exactly what we are going to do."

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria)