ALAMOGORDO, N.M. - The White House said on Monday the United Nations had debated long enough over a new resolution to demand that Iraq disarm and it was time to vote.

"The time has come for people to raise their hands and cast their vote," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters aboard Air Force One as President Bush traveled to New Mexico for a campaign stop ahead of next week's congressional and state elections.

"It is coming down to the wire. This is important. The United Nations has debated this now long enough," Fleischer said. He set no timetable, but the Bush administration has made clear it views this week as crucial.

Bush in recent days has signaled growing impatience as France, Russia and other allies try to weaken the wording of a proposed U.S. resolution, which would pave the way for possible military action if Iraq failed to meet U.N. demands.

But the possibility that his push for U.N. action on Iraq may fail has complicated Bush's campaign drive in which he is seeking to help recapture the Senate for Republicans and hold the party's control in the House of Representatives.

At the campaign stop in Alamogordo, Bush again made his case against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and the crowd responded with energetic chants of "USA, USA, USA."

"MADE U.N. LOOK FOOLISH"

"This is a person who has made the U.N. look foolish," Bush said. "Either the United Nations will do its duty to disarm Saddam Hussein. Or Saddam Hussein will disarm himself. In either case, if they refuse to act...the United States will lead a coalition and disarm Saddam Hussein."

Diplomats at the United Nations, Secretary of State Colin Powell and perhaps Bush will be working in the next few days to try to ensure the U.N. Security Council passes a strong resolution.

Bush went to the United Nations on Sept. 12 to ask for a resolution to force Iraq to give up its weapons of mass destruction programs. But he has struggled to win broad support.

Security Council veto-holders France and Russia have insisted on a two-stage process that would require further deliberations if Iraq failed to comply with a new resolution.

The two states fear the text of the U.S. draft resolution could be interpreted as a hidden trigger for military action against Iraq before U.N. arms inspectors have a chance to account for any of Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction.

In New Mexico, Bush was greeted on his motorcade route to the Alamogordo event by two large signs, each reading, "A message for the president: George Kick Their Ass."