Some Republicans close to the White House said revamping Social Security would, at least initially, take precedence over another of Bush’s top economic goals – broad tax reform. They said Bush’s goal is to secure passage of the Social Security overhaul within the first two years of his second term. But Democratic congressional aides are already talking about the prospects of a vote-blocking filibuster against any plan to “privatize” the retirement system. Stephen Moore, head of the Club for Growth, a group that helped Bush’s re-election, said the president views Social Security reform as a “legacy issue.” But he acknowledged: “Social Security reform and tax reform are two big boulders in the budget – it’s hard to do both at once.”

“There was not a lot of high five-ing,” one senior administration official said after Bush’s election victory. “The sense was, okay, we’ve won, but the prize is the responsibility, the toil.” So far, the United Nations has balked at sending enough staff into Iraq to help carry out the elections, citing poor security. And some administration officials have expressed doubts about the election timetable, though Bush insists it will take place on schedule in January.

“Even if we succeed in temporarily suppressing the insurgency, all we’re going to be doing is pruning it back. It’s going to come back in full force,” predicted John Pike, a defense analyst with GlobalSecurity.org. “The elections aren’t going to bring stability.”

Pike said Bush could be forced to keep at least 140,000 to 150,000 troops in Iraq “for at least another two years,” putting further strain on an already stretched military. Bush is expected to ask Congress early next year for $65 billion to $85 billion in additional emergency funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, congressional aides said. The bigger-than-expected request will bring total US funding for military operations and reconstruction efforts in both countries to nearly $300 billion.

RE-ELECTION

<B>Sept 11 concerns helped boost Bush</B>

■ Anxiety echoing from the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, may have been the issue that swayed many voters to support President Bush’s re-election, Republican pollsters said on Wednesday. After listening to the White House warn repeatedly of dangers to the American people, enough voters were skittish about Sen. John Kerry to keep their “wartime president,” despite criticism of the war in Iraq. Other analyses of the vote have shown that “moral values” was the single top issue cited by voters and social issues such as gay marriage, gun ownership and abortion loomed large. Voters who cited moral values as a prime concern in exit polls also admired Bush’s unambiguous stance against what they see as the evil of terrorism and dictatorship, the pollsters said. “We knew from the president’s polling for the last year and a half now that the president was always much stronger vis-a-vis the American electorate on the matter of who do you trust to handle the war on terror,” she said. Other pollsters agreed. “It is very significant,” said pollster Tony Fabrizio, who worked for Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole in 1996. “It was one of the prime reasons why the president was able to erase, or mostly erase, a historical gender gap.” Tough-talking Vice President Dick Cheney had hit the terrorism particularly hard during the campaign. In September, he warned that a Kerry victory could lead to an attack “devastating from the standpoint of the United States.”

<B>Adam Entous

Caren Bohan</B>