US President George W. Bush met with Senate Democratic leaders at the White House on Friday and pledged cooperation with Democrats to solve "common problems."

"The elections are over, the problems haven't gone away," Bush said after his meeting with Senator Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, and Richard Durbin, the Senate minority whip.

Bush said he assured Reid and Durbin that the White House and the Democrats "will cooperate as closely as we can to solve common problems."

In an effort to find common ground with Reid, who was expected to become the Senate majority leader when the 110th Congress convenes in early January next year, Bush said he and Reid both came from the West.

"I'm from West Texas; he's from Nevada. And we tend to speak the same language, pretty plain-spoken people, which should ... bode well for our relationships," he said.

Reid said they discussed important issues with Bush, and the "only way to move forward is with bipartisanship and openness and to get some results."

On Thursday, Bush had lunch with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who was to become the first woman speaker in the US history, and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer at the White House.

Since Democrats' sweeping victory in Tuesday's elections, Bush had taken reconciliatory steps to improve ties with Democrats, whowould have more influence over Bush's domestic and foreign polices.

The overt warmed relationship between the White House and the Democrats after years of bitter political battles between Republicans and Democrats, however, might evaporate soon when Congress returned to business later this month.

With a Republican-controlled Congress, the last two years of Bush's presidency would prove to be very difficult for the White House. The Bush administration would have to seek support from Democrats to move forward with its legislative agenda.

Bush urged the outgoing Republican-led Senate on Thursday to confirm John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations, before the Democrats take over in the new Congress. Bolton has been serving in the post on a temporary basis for more than a year, and would have to leave the job in January if his nomination could not be approved by Senate.

Democrats blocked Bolton's confirmation last year, and Democratic Senator Joseph Biden, expected to become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Thursday that Bolton's nomination was "going nowhere."

(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2006)