Obama to Meet Top Hill Democrats for Pre-Election Strategy Session

Checking signals one more time before the stretch run to the Nov. 2 election, President Obama planned to meet Thursday at the White House with top Democratic leaders from the House and Senate for a session that could include planning for a lame duck session of Congress.

Democrats, who hold majorities in both bodies on Capitol Hill, are expected to recess later this week without completing action on several key bills, including legislation dealing with Bush-era tax cuts that are due to expire next year.

An aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Associated Press that Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and others in the Democratic leadership are expected to head down Pennsylvania Avenue Thursday for the White House meeting.

Obama was in Des Moines, Iowa, in the midst of a four-state campaign swing that was to wind up later Wednesday in Richmond, Va. In another one of his backyard chats at private homes, the president accused his Republican adversaries of postponing tough decisions on "hard problems" between 2001 and 2009 -- the eight years of the Bush presidency. The GOP, he said, "didn't really speak honestly to the American people about how we're gonna get his country back on track over the long term" and is now offering more of the same.