WASHINGTON -- President Bush is scheduled to campaign in Nevada during the final week before the election with a visit Thursday to Elko, according to the White House.
Bush will attend the Nevada Victory 2006 Rally after appearing earlier in the day in Billings, Mont., White House spokesman Peter Watkins said Friday.
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Joining Bush at the Elko rally will be Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who is seeking a second term, and Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller, who is running for the House seat of Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Gibbons.
Even though the president's job approval rating is 38 percent, Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said the senator is not concerned about campaigning with Bush five days before the election.
"The senator is not at all embarrassed to be a supporter of the president," Finn said. "He is proud that the president is coming to Nevada, and will be proud to be with him in Elko."
Democrat Jack Carter of Las Vegas, who is challenging Ensign, said Bush's visit is a sign the Nevada Senate race is closer than many observers believe.
"I don't think he'd be doing this if there was a great big distance between us," Carter said.
Jennifer Crowe, press secretary for Jill Derby, who is opposing Heller, said the president's visit should help Democrats.
"When he was in Reno in October, we picked up a number of new supporters, including Republicans as well as Democrats," Crowe said.
Calls to the Heller campaign were not immediately returned.
