But the White House warns that, despite Saddam's symbollic dethroning Wednesday, the war "is not over," amid worries that some of the dire scenarios envisioned -- such as Iraqi use of weapons of mass destruction or potential terrorist retaliation -- may yet materialize.

And political experts joined by opposition Democrats who want "regime change" at home say a second term is not in the bag, pointing to a rickety economy -- and to the precedent set by Bush's father.

The elder Bush saw his popularity skyrocket during the 1991 Gulf War to oust Iraqi forces from Kuwait, only to see his bid for a second term founder on the perception that he did too little to revive the ailing US economy.

That history must weigh on the president's thoughts as he charts his bid for another four years in the White House -- even though Bush aides deny that he sees a political dimension to the war to disarm and topple Saddam.

Victory in Iraq "is not a silver bullet, but it's got a lot more potential for the president that it had for his father," according to Stephen Hess, a presidential politics expert at the Brookings Institution think tank.

Hess points to the surprising gains by Bush's Republican party in the November 2002 mid-term elections to show that the September 11 attacks may have elevated national security to parity with the economy at the top of the list of issues that guide US voters.

And even when the hostilities in Iraq stop, the war on terrorism may keep the US public focused on national security.

"What we don't know is whether the political capital he gains from Iraq is transferable to domestic issues," said Hess, who noted that Bush's poll numbers have remained strong even as the war's fortunes have waxed and waned.

"It's probably not as transferable as the Bush White House thinks it is," he cautions.

Bristling at the notion of political calculation, Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said war in Iraq "is about the disarmament of a brutal regime of its weapons of mass destruction and the liberation of the Iraqi people."

White House aides say he inherited an economy in a recession worsened by the financial accounting scandals and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"Those are the facts," said McClellan, who said the president was fighting for congressional approval of a 725-billion-dollar economic stimulus package that ranks highest among the "immediate priorities" of domestic policy.

Democrats counter that the plan will do little to promote growth while heavily favoring tax cuts they say unfairly favor the richest Americans, and they downplay the long-term impact of Bush's sky-high opinion poll numbers.

"While the Iraqi people are rightly cheering, things on the home front are not good," said one Democratic Senate leadership aide, who declined to be named. "The economy is in the tank."

Recent polls have shown that roughly seven in ten Americans approve of the way Bush is doing his job, though that number dwindles sharply when asked whether he is doing enough to help the ailing US economy recover.

According to a recent survey released by the Pew Research Center, 52 percent of respondents said Bush "could do more" to bolster the economy.

Nine Democrats are set to vie for their party's nomination to challenge Bush, a sign that many opposition leaders consider Bush a ripe target despite the relative ease -- thus far -- of the campaign in Iraq.

None of them has the political heft of his rival in the 2000 White House race, then-vice president Al Gore. But neither did the man who beat Bush's father, a relatively little-known Arkansas governor, Bill Clinton.

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