President Bush is expected to attend a rally for Republican candidates at Reunion Arena on Nov. 6, a day before the midterm elections that could cost his party control of Congress. The rally will also feature Gov. Rick Perry and other state GOP candidates. It has become customary for Mr. Bush to finish campaign swings in Dallas; in previous years, he's done so at Southern Methodist University. He is expected to vote in Crawford on Election Day.

Gromer Jeffers Jr.

LUFKIN, Texas – Republican Gov. Rick Perry made several stops Tuesday in East Texas, highlighting his efforts to secure the border with Mexico and criticizing Democratic opponent Chris Bell. Mr. Perry talked up his efforts to fight crime along the border, including sending National Guard troops there even before President Bush asked them to go, and said again that he'll ask the Legislature for $100 million to sustain border crime-fighting programs. He said that, as a congressman, Mr. Bell voted against using troops to patrol the border and for making it harder to deport illegal immigrants.

HOUSTON – The national GOP has contributed an additional $216,000 to boost Shelley Sekula-Gibbs' congressional write-in campaign, a badly needed boost for the cash-strapped campaign to replace former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The National Republican Congressional Committee reported spending $216,842 Monday on behalf of Ms. Sekula-Gibbs, with nearly $202,000 of it going to Crossroads Media of Alexandria, Va., for "issue ad placement." The National Republican Congressional Committee also spent $13,000 with Public Opinion Strategies, a Virginia-based Republican polling company, and $2,300 went for phone banks to Feather Larson & Synhorst, a Minnesota firm with strong GOP ties that specializes in "get out the vote" campaigns. Nick Lampson, Ms. Sekula-Gibbs' Democratic opponent, also received national help in the final two weeks.

From wire reports