As early as last January Karl Rove, the President’s political strategist advising the Republican Party to emphasize War as a campaign theme for the November Elections. When asked why the President waited until September to raise the issue of war with Iraq, Andrew Card, the President’s Chief of Staff, replied, “from a marketing standpoint you don’t introduce new products in August.” Appearing before a Republican fund raiser Whitehouse pollster Matthew Dowd announced that the war issue would “put the Republicans on a very good footing.”

Beginning in early August and continuing through his New Jersey campaign swing for Senatorial Candidate Doug Forrester the President repeatedly accused the Democrats of putting special interests ahead of the nation’s security in at least 24 speeches. On Monday of this week the Vice-President, campaigning in Kansas for congressional candidate Adam Taff, said that a vote for Taff aided the war effort. That is the background in which the President’s words, “The House responded, but the Senate is more interested in special interests in Washington and not interested in the security of the security of the American people,” were uttered.

While the Senate is working to produce a Homeland Security bill that serves the public interest by protecting federal career public servants from partisan job discrimination while giving the President the authority to respond to terrorism; while the Senate and House are trying to fashion a bi-partisan War resolution that is narrow enough in scope to avoid giving the President a blank check, will comply with the War Powers Act and yet provide the authority to the President to initiate the coming conflict; it is not the time to transmogrify the coming war and the anti-terrorism efforts into a naked election ploy.

Republican Congressman Ray LaHood of Peoria, Illinois said, “It is a huge mistake for the administration to politicize this issue. Some of the rhetoric in the last 10 days on the campaign trail gives some people the idea that we’re trying to politicize it.” It sounds like the Congressman, facing his own re-election effort in his conservative district is worried that it won’t play in Peoria. It is a dangerous script for the Republican road show.

Senator Daschle and the other Senators who have served this country in uniform, and who know combat are rightly offended and their indignation at being accused of dividing the country when they express that offense is righteous. It is the President and his surrogates that are trying to collect on the Bush Trifecta – not the Democrats.

Still, despite the sniping from the Whitehouse, the Senate loyally soldiers on and will reach the balanced and fair resolution of both the issues so vital to the nation’s security. If the President chooses to veto or the house chooses to let the Department of Homeland Security die for want of an ability to compromise – well, that will prove who wants an electoral issue and who want a secure nation.