WASHINGTON – President Bush gave a ringing endorsement Friday to his successor, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and shrugged off predictions that his party will lose control of Congress.

"This election is far from over. These races for the House are local races. And the candidates talking about security for the country and keeping taxes low will win," he told the Belo Capital Bureau in an interview that dovetailed with his intensified time on the stump. "What we ought to be talking about is issues, and we're on the right side of the issues."

The president is shifting to full-time campaign mode next week and plans two Texas stops – Sugar Land on Monday, where he'll appear with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and U.S. House candidates, and Reunion Arena in Dallas a week later to lend a hand to the governor and other statewide candidates.

"I'm looking forward to campaigning for Governor Perry, who I strongly support. I'm looking forward to saying positive things about my friend Senator Hutchison," he said.

Both return the support but have also criticized the president. Mr. Perry has complained about growth in federal spending during the Bush administration and pushed for more border security help than Washington has been ready to provide. Ms. Hutchison has been distancing herself from White House policy on Iraq, calling the situation "chaos" and urging Mr. Bush to set aside his resistance to semiautonomous ethnic regions.

Dallas – Mr. Bush's home before becoming governor – has always treated him warmly in campaign events.

Mr. Bush finished the 2000 campaign in Austin. Two years later, the evening before polls opened, he drew thousands of flag-waving backers to Southern Methodist University's Moody Coliseum. In 2004, he blitzed five battleground states before a final, late-night rally at SMU.

"It'll be a nostalgic moment for me," he said. "It's the last time I will be at the head of the ticket, and I'm looking forward to it."

Polls show Mr. Perry leading but without a majority. Texas law gives the victory to the top vote getter, with no runoff.

Several governors have won without a majority, though Mr. Bush won strong majorities in both of his Texas campaigns. Asked about the prospect of Mr. Perry winning with far less than half the vote, the president said: "I'm glad he's going to win. ... And I think before we speculate on the outcome, we better let the people vote."

Belo Capital Bureau reporter Jim Fry contributed to this report.

E-mail tgillman@dallasnews.com