Former President George W. Bush had every intention of sticking to his self-imposed exile from politics, but found that the phone kept ringing with appeals from Republican U.S. Senate candidates for help, friends say.
As a result, Bush has embarked on a rescue mission to try to preserve the Republicans' narrow Senate majority in a year in which many party figures fear presumptive nominee Donald Trump will drag them down to defeat in the Nov. 8 elections.
Republicans control 54 seats in the 100-member Senate.