KEY POINTS:
WASHINGTON - Up to 100 million Americans go to the polls tomorrow to decide control of Congress in the last two years of George W. Bush's presidency.
Yesterday, both parties focused on turning out voters. Mr Bush campaigned in marginal Republican districts in conservative states while the top congressional Democrat campaigned in the left-leaning Northeast.
"Here's the way I see it," Mr Bush told a crowd in Grand Island, Nebraska. "If the Democrats are so good about being the party of the opposition, let's just keep them in the opposition."
Republicans are hoping their party's get-out-the-vote operation can prevent a Democratic rout.
Still, two public polls gave Republicans reason to hope that they could stave off a Democratic takeover.
Republicans were posting higher marks on the question of which party should control the House. The independent Pew Research Centre found that Democrats had a four-point edge over Republicans, down from 11 points two weeks ago.
Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, hoping to become the first female leader of the House of Representatives, was cautiously optimistic about her party's chances.
"We are thankful for where we are today, to be poised for success," she said. "But we have two Mt Everests we have to climb - they are called Monday and Tuesday."
Even as Mr Bush was campaigning in Colorado on "values" issues, Ted Haggard was dismissed as the leader of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs because of "sexually immoral conduct".
Republicans and Democrats have sent out thousands of volunteers in the closest states to work phone banks and canvass neighbourhoods. Both parties also have assembled legal teams for possible challenges.
Republicans repeated their assertion that Democrats would raise taxes and prematurely pull out of Iraq if they controlled Congress. Democrats argued that Republicans had blindly followed Mr Bush's "failed policy".
Iraq has dominated the campaign, and Republicans and Democrats sparred again after Saddam Hussein's conviction and death sentence for crimes against humanity.
"To pull out, to withdraw from this war is losing. The Democrats appear to be content with losing," said Senator Elizabeth Dole, who leads the Senate Republican campaign. Congressman Rahm Emanuel, the Democrat in charge of the party's House campaign, shot back: "We want to win and we want a new direction to Iraq."
Voters give both the President and Republican-controlled Congress low job-performance ratings. They do not like the direction the country is headed and are particularly frustrated with the war.
The Senate outcome is the least predictable. Democrats are expected to defeat Republican senators in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Rhode Island. But four other races are less clear.
Mid-term elections
What's at stake:
* All 435 House seats.
* 33 Senate seats.
* Governorships in 36 states.
* Democrats need a gain of 15 House seats and six in the 100-member Senate to control Congress.
