White House says allies will keep Congress

US President Barack Obama's chief spokesman predicted Friday that the White House's Democratic allies would keep control of the Senate and House of Representatives in November elections.

"I think Democrats will be successful, and we will keep the House and the Senate," Robert Gibbs, who caused a minor stir recently by saying Republicans could capture the House, told ABC television.

With Republicans training heavy fire on the White House over the sour US economy that has left unemployment near 10 percent, Gibbs said Democrats would make the case that their foes created the crisis.

"Do you want to continue to move forward and making progress as we have in the Obama administration? Or do you want to go back to the economic policies that got us into this mess?" he said.

Asked whether losing control of the House might be a blessing for Obama, giving him a congressional foe to blame going into his own 2012 reelection bid, Gibbs replied: "Nobody here at the White House believes that."

"The president has a plan for getting this country back on its feet again. We need as many people in Congress that support that agenda to create jobs, to help small businesses expand, to give people opportunity to go to college again," he said.

"And he hopes that, come next November and, certainly, next year when we swear in a new Congress, that there are a majority of those that support that agenda," said Gibbs.