WASHINGTON - President Bush won't need a very long speech today to persuade the Greater Cincinnati congressional delegation to support him on Iraq.

        The president gives a major address on Iraq tonight from the Cincinnati Museum Center. It is aimed at winning support from the public and Congress, which votes this week on a resolution that would authorize the president to wage war against Iraq.

        Most of the Greater Cincinnati delegation already has pledged to vote for the resolution, regardless of party. Rep. Ken Lucas, D-Ky., and Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., have been two of the president's top supporters.

        While several alternative resolutions likely will be offered, the Bush-backed version is expected to pass by the end of the week.

BUSH SPEECH

• When: 8 p.m. today   • Where: Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.   • Audience: By invitation only   • On TV: Local TV stations WCPO-TV (Channel 9), WKRC-TV (Channel 12) and WXIX-TV (Channel 19) have committed to airing the speech. Fox begins coverage at 7:30 p.m., preempting baseball coverage, if necessary; the other stations begin coverage at 8 p.m. WLWT-TV (Channel 5) will decide today whether it will air it. MSNBC and CNN will air the speech nationwide.   • On radio: WLW-AM (700) will air the speech live.

        Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, a member of the House International Relations Committee, already voted for the resolution last week when it passed the committee. Mr. Chabot denounced Saddam Hussein as an “international outlaw who poses a grave threat to civilization.”

        “It's time for him to go,” Mr. Chabot said.

        Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the president had compromised with Congress and Democrats to ensure that the resolution would pass.

        “Passage ... will show the world that the United States government speaks with one voice in its effort to protect American interests at home and abroad,” he said.

        Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a member of the House GOP leadership, said Saddam finances terrorism, stockpiles chemical and biological weapons, and is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

        “The United States, and all peace-loving nations, cannot afford to ignore the possibility that the Iraqi regime or its terrorist allies may use such deadly weapons in the future,” he said.

        Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, announced his support for the resolution Friday, saying on the Senate floor that Saddam was a neighborhood bully who must be stopped.

RESOLUTION

The House's joint resolution is 10 pages long, although most of it is taken up with “whereas” clauses listing reasons to go to war with Iraq, such as ”Whereas Iraq continues to aid and harbor international terrorist organizations...”   The heart of the resolution:   “The president is authorized to use the armed forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to:   “Defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and   “Enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.”

        “Iraq encourages other rogue nations and groups to follow its lead with a simple message: "Go ahead and do what you want. The world community does not have the backbone to stop you.' That example cannot be allowed to stand,” Mr. Voinovich said.

        Ohio's other senator, Republican Mike DeWine, is officially undecided, spokeswoman Amanda Flaig said.

        “He thinks this is a very tough decision, and so he's taking his time to decide,” she said.

        The majority of letters and phone calls from Ohioans tend to oppose U.S. intervention without help from other countries, she said.

        Mr. Lucas, running for re-election in a Northern Kentucky district President Bush won by 24 percentage points, said he would support whatever action the president deems necessary.

        Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., said the vote would be one the most important he would ever make.

        “The case against Saddam Hussein is clear,” Mr. Bunning said on the Senate floor Friday. “We can no longer tolerate him and the threat that he poses not only to us, but to his neighbors, the Middle East and the entire world.”

        “After September 11, we cannot afford to simply sit on our hands. Now is the time to take bold and decisive action in our own self-defense,” he said.

        Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Saddam had repressed his own people and now was attempting to spread his evil throughout the world.

        “President Bush can count on my full support against terrorists and the states that harbor them so that an attack on America never happens again,” he said.

        In Indiana, Mr. Bayh has been a bigger supporter of the Bush-backed resolution than the state's Republican senator, Richard Lugar.

        Mr. Bayh was one of the Democrats who helped forge the final version of the resolution expected to pass this week.

        Mr. Bayh, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said he is convinced of the need for action because of the increasing possibility of weapons of mass destruction and the rise of suicidal terrorists.

        “I've heard some of my colleagues say we need to await an imminent threat,” Mr. Bayh said. “But when your intelligence is imperfect, you may be wrong. It may be too late. That, in my mind, argues for acting sooner rather than later and removing threats before they have a chance to be threats.”

        Mr. Lugar, former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has not said whether he will support the resolution, but almost no one expects him to repudiate his own president. He supported the 1991 Persian Gulf War and President Clinton's use of the military in Bosnia and Kosovo.

        “He's involved in trying to improve the resolution in the Senate,” said his spokesman, Andy Fisher.

        The most skeptical voice in the delegation is that of Rep. Baron Hill, a Democrat who represents southeast Indiana.

        “I just don't want us to get into a quagmire over there,” said Mr. Hill, who said he is undecided on what would be the most important vote of his career so far.

        “My constituents are concerned about it,” he said. “They think we may be going too fast.”

        Bush visit to draw protesters

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