President Bush Thursday took his campaign for sweeping tax cuts to the home state of one of the few Republicans resisting bigger reductions, asking why some lawmakers favor "little bitty tax relief."

"Some in Congress say the plan is too big. It seems like to me they might have some explaining to do," Bush told workers at a Timken Co. ball-bearing plant. "If they agree that tax relief creates jobs, then why are they for a little bitty tax relief package?"

Without singling out Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich, who defied the White House on taxes, Bush appealed to Congress to act, saying, "There's too much economic uncertainty today."

Voinovich planned to meet briefly with the president on the tarmac in Dayton, Ohio, but turned down an invitation to attend his two speeches in the swing state touting his economic agenda and wartime successes in Iraq.

Despite intense pressure from fellow Republicans to back Bush's scaled-back $550 billion tax cut, Voinovich's spokesman, Scott Milburn, said the senator would not back down. "That's not going to happen," Milburn said. "He simply believes that we have to balance the need to grow the economy with the need to rein in the deficit."

Democrats blame Bush's tax cuts for turning budget surpluses into record deficits and for his economic policies costing the private sector more than 2.6 million jobs.

Bush blamed the war on terrorism and the recession for the record deficits and predicted his tax cuts would help the nation return to budget balance and create 1.4 million jobs.

The visit to Ohio was part of a state-by-state campaign aimed at capitalizing on Bush's wartime popularity to revive the bulk of his tax cut package, the centerpiece of which would eliminate taxes paid by shareholders on corporate dividends.

It came one day after Alan Greenspan signaled he would accept Bush's offer to serve another term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, a move that rallied stock prices.

But it also came as Bush's pollster warned Republican supporters the president's lofty poll numbers were certain to decline as the Democratic voter base solidifies before the 2004 presidential election campaign.

Bush has little choice but to compromise on the tax cuts after the Republican-led Congress scaled back the $726 billion package he proposed in January. The House set a $550 billion cap, while the Senate backed a $350 billion limit on new tax cuts.

Stepped-Up Pressure

Bush has seized on the $550 billion figure as the minimum needed to revive the beleaguered economy, and he is stepping up pressure on lawmakers like Voinovich to approve it.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the smaller, $350 billion tax cut package backed by Voinovich would create at least 350,000 fewer jobs than Bush's plan.

To keep costs within congressional limits, the White House is considering implementing half of Bush's proposed dividend tax cut up front, with the rest phased in over a decade. The White House is also considering proposing a seven-year tax cut rather than a 10-year one to reduce the price tag.

Bush credited the U.S. economy with weathering major setbacks, from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to corporate scandals, and said it was still growing faster than most other industrialized nations. "But this economy has got unmet potential. We know this economy can grow faster," Bush said.

At his first stop in North Canton, Bush met with small- business owners at Timken, which makes ball bearings and other steel parts used in a wide range of machines including the president's plane, Air Force One.

He will then travel to Dayton, where he will be greeted on the tarmac by Voinovich, who together with Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine effectively blocked the Senate from passing tax reductions of more than $350 billion.

Voinovich and Snowe have been targeted by their fellow Republicans for attack, including television commercials by the pro-tax cut Club for Growth. The ad calls them "Franco-Republicans" and complains they were as dependable as France was during the Iraq war, which Paris opposed.

Like Voinovich, Snowe was "very comfortable with her stance on this," her spokesman said.