Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- George W. Bush's decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq has members of his own party scared that the strategy could fail and cause voters to turn on Republicans in 2008 in a replay of the midterm elections.

Bush, outlining his troop buildup in a prime-time address last night, said a beefed-up U.S. force will restore order to a chaotic Baghdad and provide incentives for Iraq's government to step up home-grown security measures.

Publicly, most Republican leaders have closed ranks around the commander-in-chief, asserting the troop infusion is a short- term step that deserves a chance to work. Yet some Republicans who have rallied around the White House in the past are now distancing themselves from the buildup.

``A troop surge would put more American troops at risk to address a problem that is not a military problem,'' Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman, a Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a speech yesterday.

``I oppose the troop surge in Baghdad because it is not a strategy for victory,'' said Coleman, who faces a potentially tough re-election in 2008.

Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, who is exploring a run for the Republican presidential nomination, has also broken ranks. ``I do not believe sending more troops to Iraq is the answer,'' Brownback said yesterday in a statement. ``Iraq requires a political rather than a military solution.''

Republican Representative Heather Wilson of New Mexico, an Air Force veteran, also voiced doubts after Bush's speech. ``I'm skeptical that this strategy will work,'' she said in a telephone interview.

Redefining Victory

Oregon Senator Gordon Smith is another buildup opponent. ``We've done surges before, and they've gotten us nowhere,'' he said in an interview this week. ``I'm skeptical about another unless there's some redefinition of victory that I haven't heard yet.'' Republican Smith also faces re-election in 2008.

Wilson, who survived a tough House re-election race in November, sent Bush a letter Jan. 8 after an Iraq visit in which she expressed reservations about a troop spike. ``No one I have talked to can explain to me,'' Wilson wrote, ``why we should expect increasing U.S. forces in Baghdad at the levels being discussed would have a different outcome now than it has last summer and fall.''

Rising Price

Republican congressional leaders, who were among a large group of lawmakers Bush met with this week, took a far more positive view of the administration's retooling of its Iraq strategy.

Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called Bush's measures ``courageous and correct'' and said the strategy will ``give us a chance for victory.''

Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the House minority whip, said it isn't the job of members of Congress ``to dictate strategy to the commander-in-chief, who is ultimately responsible'' for carrying out a winning strategy. ``I was pleased to hear the president repeat what he has told the Iraqi leaders: the Iraqis must be principally responsible for Iraq's future,'' Blunt said in a statement.

The three leading Republican potential presidential candidates, Senator John McCain of Arizona, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, all embraced the president's new strategy and troop buildup.

The Republican with perhaps the most at stake if the ``surge'' turns into a slog is McCain, who has called for an additional 35,000 to 40,000 fresh troops in Iraq and a commitment for them to stay in place until stability is restored.

Improvement Needed

Political experts say Republican office-seekers may suffer if the troop buildup fails. ``There has to be some improvement over the next six to nine months,'' said Lee Edwards, a historian at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington policy-research organization that favors limited government.

Nathan Gonzales, an analyst at the Rothenberg Political Report, a non-partisan newsletter in Washington, said Republicans' plans to regain power in Congress and hold onto the presidency could be undermined by a continuing focus on the Iraq conflict.

``If we're still talking about Iraq'' in 2008, Gonzales said, ``Republicans are long shots to keep the White House.''

A troop buildup is a ``tough sell for a president with a 36 percent approval rating and a nervous and skeptical Congress,'' said Charles Gabriel, a political analyst with Prudential Equity Group in Washington. ``There's a lot of impatience among Hill Republicans.''

Public Opposition

A USA Today/Gallup poll of 1,004 adults conducted Jan. 5-7 found that Americans oppose a temporary Iraq troop buildup by a 61 percent to 36 percent margin.

Republicans are counting on the president to build support for a detailed plan that will extricate the U.S. from Iraq, said David Carney, a political consultant in New Hampshire and former political director for Bush's father.

``He needs to put out the rationale clearly so people the next day standing in line at Dunkin' Donuts know why we are doing this,'' Carney said. ``Most people would look at the last two years as a missed opportunity to articulate what we are trying to accomplish.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Dodge in Washington at cdodge1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 11, 2007 00:14 EST