"Deborah is already in a box because of her perceived relationship with Bush, rising gas prices, and all-around bad environment," said Neil Clark, a Republican strategist in Ohio. "That was at the beginning of the year. Now, during midyear we have a series of disgusting scandals like Abramoff that have touched Ohio. We have disgusting corruption from California with [ex-Rep. Randy "Duke"] Cunningham, and along comes Foley and everyone is wondering we don't need that either."

Pryce has spent the final days echoing the president's attacks on Democrats, saying that Kilroy would raise taxes. A new ad also attacks Kilroy for her position on electronic surveillance programs.

Pryce, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, hasn't always marched in lockstep with the Republican leadership; she has differed with them over abortion rights. But her position in the leadership has made distancing herself from the party's malaise all the more difficult. Witness the Mark Foley scandal. The news was on the front page of Ohio newspapers for days, and she has struggled to shed allegations that she knew about former Representative Foley's contact with House pages and failed to act.

Kilroy took out ads on Christian radio stations lambasting Pryce. And Pryce has struggled in the largely Democratic urban parts of the Columbus-area district as well as the Democrat-leaning suburbs.

—Silla Brush