Less than four weeks before the November 7 elections in which Republicans are at risk of losing control of Congress, Bush campaigned with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who has faced calls to step down after the disclosure of lurid e-mails sent by a former Republican lawmaker to teenage congressional assistants.

Hastert's critics -- including Democrats and some Republicans -- contend he did not do enough to protect the teens who were sent the explicit messages by former Rep. Mark Foley.

Hastert has said the matter could have been handled better but that he did not do anything wrong and has rejected calls he step down as speaker.

Some Republican congressional candidates have canceled appearances with Hastert, but Bush, sharing the stage with the speaker for the first time since the Foley scandal broke last month, praised him as an effective leader for the party.

"You know he's not one of these Washington politicians who spews a lot of hot air. He just gets the job done," Bush said after Hastert introduced him at a fund-raiser for congressional candidates in the speaker's home state of Illinois.

"This country is better off with Denny Hastert and it will be better off when he's the speaker the next legislative session," Bush said.

Democrats must pick up 15 House seats and six Senate seats to reclaim control of Congress. Several polls show Democrats with a big edge over Republicans, with voters upset over the Iraq war and displeased with Bush's leadership.

The Foley scandal has added to the woes of congressional Republicans already battling the fallout from the influence-peddling scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

'NO ACCOUNTABILITY CAUCUS'

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry, in a fund-raising letter, derided Bush's side-by-side appearance with Hastert as "a meeting of the 'no accountability' caucus of the Republican party."

Kirk Fordham, a potential key witness in the Foley matter, testified behind closed doors on Thursday before a House ethics committee panel in Washington probing the scandal.

A former Foley chief of staff, Fordham has told news media he informed Hastert's staff about the Florida congressman's troublesome behavior toward teenage boys three years ago.

Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer has denied it. The speaker has voiced support for his staff, but has said if there people who participated in a cover-up they should lose their jobs.

As Fordham emerged from a 4-1/2-hour meeting with the ethics panel, his lawyer, Timothy Heaphy, told reporters Fordham had been consistent in his accounts of events but would not disclose the questions posed to him.

A few House Republicans have said they first learned of what has been described as an overly friendly e-mail by Foley to a former page late last year or early this year.

Hastert said the first he learned of overtly lurid e-mails was when Foley resigned abruptly last month after the messages were disclosed by ABC News.