Washington ? Veterans hospitals in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Mississippi should be shut down, but the administration should scrap plans to close facilities in New York, Kentucky and California, an advisory commission said Friday.

The 16-member panel appointed to review the Department of Veterans Affairs projected realignment of its health care system also agreed with the Bush administration that a new hospital was needed in Orlando, Fla. It disagreed with the recommendation for one in Las Vegas.

VA Secretary Anthony Principi promised to decide in about a month which hospitals to close or reduce in size. Democrats were skeptical that final decisions to close any of them would come in an election year.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said the importance of Ohio and Pennsylvania in the presidential campaign could outweigh arguments in favor of closing hospitals in those two states.

“I’d be surprised,” said Daschle, D-S.D., if the Bush administration were to accept the commission’s recommendations, especially considering this year’s elections.

Veterans groups say the government shouldn’t even be thinking about shutting down VA facilities while U.S. soldiers are being wounded in Iraq.

“Regardless of the election, it seems inappropriate to close veterans hospitals in time of war,” said Steve Thomas, a spokesman for the American Legion.

The VA advisory panel rejected administration proposals to close hospitals in Canandaigua, N.Y.; Lexington, Ky.; and Livermore, Calif. It agreed with the administration on the closure of hospitals in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Gulfport, Miss., and transferring large portions of care away from the hospital in Waco, Texas.