Grab That Third Rail, George!

Grab it good and hard!

President Bush's push to transform Social Security is in trouble, despite intense salesmanship designed to build support in Congress and with the public. Democrats are united against the president on the issue. A new national poll shows the idea is losing ground with taxpayers. Many Republicans in Congress remain hesitant to promote letting workers under 55 privately invest a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes.

And Thursday, Bush's political challenge became more daunting as one of his key constituencies — economic conservatives — fumed at his new willingness to consider a tax increase to pay for the changes.