During a speech in Minneapolis, President Bush urged Congress to adopt a prescription drug bill for seniors -- one that won't 'undermine the system.'

	President Bush speaks to the Coalition for Medicare Choices about strengthening Medicare. Listen to his speech.

Bush urged Congress to pass a Medicare prescription drug package that, he says, would help America's senior population, but won't harm America's pharmaceutical and health care companies that are creating emerging medical technology.

Bush told the gathered group of Minnesota health care professionals that the state has a strong health care sector, the University of Minnesota's Medical School, the Mayo Clinic and Medical Alley. He said the state's health care industry is a leading the nation in developing innovative health care drugs and products.

Bush said he wants the health care industry to continue to grow, but is worried that several prescription drug plans in Congress would undermine the system. Bush said America's health care industry is the strongest in the world "because government gives it freedom." He says other countries' health care systems don't measure up because they regulate all types of health care.

"If you want a health care system where the patient doesn't suffer and, in fact, benefits, we must be innovative and encourage a healthy private sector. When government determines which drugs are covered by health insurance, when government makes those decisions, the invariably results are this: there will be delays and inflexible limits on coverage of new treatments," the president said.

Bush was hoping to use the bully pulpit to get the Democratic-controlled Senate to abandon plans that would have the federal government take over prescription drug benefits for Medicare. The Senate is scheduled to start debate on the issue next week.

In Bush's remarks he didn't name Senate Democrats specifically, but was clearly criticizing their plan to have the federal government negotiate and cap drug prices.

The president says he supports a plan that would entice private insurance companies to offer prescription drug packages to seniors. He says that plan would help the nation's health care companies continue to invest in reaseach and development for future therapies.

The House passed a similar measure last month but the president didn't fully endorse it, saying it was a good first step.

Senate Democrats, however, say Bush's plan does nothing to regulate the rising cost of prescription drugs. Sen. Paul Wellstone's spokesman, Jim Farrell, says a Medicare prescription drug benefit is basically giving a blank check to the pharmaceutical industry.

"That's exactly what President Bush wants to do; they're his big supporters. They also happen to be Norm Coleman's big supporters and it's no surprise that the pharmaceutical industry is going to get a big favor from President Bush if he has his way," he said.

Bush also spoke about the war on terror; saying the country is "in it for the long haul." He called the terrorists "cold-blooded killers who hate the freedom America provides." He also warned the country that the war on terror is not over and that many still hate this country. He says they're hiding in rogue countries all over the world.

"They like to find countries that are soft and burrow in and try to plan. You just need to know that we're trying to do everything we can to disrupt them. The doctrine still holds -- either you're with the United States of America and freedom-loving countries are you're with the terrorists," Bush said.

Bush said he asked for a budget increase in defense spending to show the world that he is serious about the war on terror. At one point he said there's no timeline that would require him to call off the war.

After the speech, an estimated 5,000 GOP contributors gathered at the Target Center, paying $50 and up to hear President Bush.

The president told his enthusiastic audience, he's confident Norm Coleman will win the Senate race and that John Kline will be elected to the House of Representatives from Minnesota's newly configured 2nd congressional district.

In March the president helped the Coleman campaign and the Republican Party raise nearly $2 million. Thursday night's rally raked in an estimated $1.2 million, which will be evenly divided between the Coleman and Kline campaigns and the state Republican Party.

About 300 people demonstrated outside of Target Center before, during and after the fundraiser, which they did not disrupt. Some signs criticized the war on terrorism, others linked President Bush to corporate greed; others called for more education spending.

From the onset the Wellstone campaign has criticized Coleman's close White House ties, suggesting Coleman would work more on behalf of the Republican agenda than in the best interest of average Minnesotans. The Wellstone campaign prides itself on numerous small contributions, and criticizes Coleman for big money events like last night's.

Wellstone campaign spokesman Jim Farrell says with the White House struggling to contain concerns about coroporate corruption, the value of Bush's backing may be diminishing.

"His campaign has really been premised on his close ties to President Bush but given the current concern of a lot of people in Minnesota about their 401k's, their pensions, their retirement -- this time may actually hurt Norm Coleman," he said.

Coleman said that Wellstone so far has raised considerably more money than he has and that without help from people like the president, he'd be overwhelmed by incumbent's war chest.

MPR reporter Mark Zdechlik contributed to this report