Democrats ask Bush to hold summit on Iraq

UNITED STATES: Triumphant U.S. congressional Democratic leaders began to flex their new political muscle on Wednesday by urging President George W. Bush to host a bipartisan summit on the Iraq war and find common ground with them on such domestic issues as education and health care.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said the American people voted for change in Tuesday's elections.

"I hope that he (Bush) will listen," Pelosi said at a news news conference after receiving a congratulatory telephone call from Bush, who also called Reid.

"I told him (Bush) what I said last night - that I looked forward to working in a bipartisan way with him, that the success of the president is always good for the country and I hoped that we could work together for the American people," Pelosi said.

Reid said: "It is time to put partisanship aside and find a new way forward - at home and in Iraq. Today, I ask the president to convene a bipartisan Iraq summit with the leaders of Congress."

Control of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate shifted to Democrats on Wednesday, with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the first victim of heavy Republican election losses fueled by voter anger at President George W. Bush and his Iraq policies.

Democrats, who gained about 30 seats to seize control of the House and had moved to within one seat of a majority in the Senate, won the contested seat of Virginia Sen. George Allen, an incumbent whose narrow race over Democrat James Webb had come down to within thousands of votes. NBC television and the Associated Press awarded the race to Webb on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, Rumsfeld, a lightning rod for Iraq war critics, resigned after heavy Republican election losses. Democrats applauded the move and called for "a fresh start" on a new war policy.

Bush conceded voter discontent with Iraq played a role in Tuesday's election "thumping" by Democrats. He acknowledged his Iraq policy was "not working well enough, fast enough" but refused to back down.

"I'm committed to victory," he said at a news conference. ********.

Pelosi seems certain to be elected as the first woman speaker of the House, the chamber's top job, when the new 110th Congress convenes in January.

She would replace Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, who announced he would not seek election as a Republican leader in the new House.

Washington, Thursday, reuters