CRAWFORD, Jan 5: With the gloves off in an election-year battle over the economy, President George W. Bush on Saturday visits the unemployment-plagued West Coast to promote his plan to bring the nation out of recession.

The president is to preside at a town-hall style meeting in Ontario, California and will speak to families and workers in Portland, Oregon.

The entire West Coast has been hit hard by job losses during the current slowdown. Oregon’s 7.4 per cent unemployment rate in November led the nation, followed by Washington with 7.0 per cent. California had a 6.0 per cent unemployment rate, compared with a revised national rate of 5.6 per cent.

The national unemployment rate rose in December to a six-year high of 5.8 per cent, according to figures released on Friday. But the pace of layoffs slowed, sparking optimism that an economic turnaround may be starting.

Nevertheless, Bush is making the economy a top issue for the new year along with the war on terrorism, mindful of the political damage his father, former President George Bush, suffered from charges of insensitivity to a recession after the Gulf War.

Democrats have begun to accuse Republicans of mismanaging the economy as the parties square off for November elections that will decide control of both houses of Congress.

There is some indication of good news (but) we still feel there is a need to help those who have lost jobs, White House counselor Karen Hughes told reporters on Friday in Texas, where Bush is vacationing.

Those will be his priorities going into the next year. He’ll be focused on the war on terrorism ... and on the recession here at home, she said.

Bush will be promoting an economic plan passed by the House of Representatives last month but blocked in the Democrat-controlled US Senate by Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.

That plan would cost the federal treasury $90 billion next year and $214 billion over five years. It includes tax breaks for businesses and individuals and a new tax credit to help laid-off workers buy health insurance.

Hughes called the plan the proper prescription for economic security.

Daschle on Friday accused Republicans of weakening the federal budget, which is expected to enter deficit this year after four years of surplus, and he unveiled a Democratic alternative economic plan.

That plan would focus on tax cuts, but they would be short-term, designed to prevent deepening of projected deficits while directly encouraging job-creating business investment.

The Ontario stop also gives Bush a chance to renew his courtship of Hispanic voters following a setback in last year’s Houston mayoral election, in which Hispanic Republican Orlando Sanchez narrowly lost a bid to unseat African-American Democrat Lee Brown.

The Ontario event is co-sponsored by four suburban Los Angeles Hispanic organizations and a farm group.—Reuters