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This article is about the current and ongoing presidential campaign of George W. Bush, the incumbent President of the United States. See George W. Bush for a detailed biography and information about his current presidency, and George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2000 for a description of his first presidential campaign. See U.S. presidential election, 2004 for general information on the 2004 election.
George W. Bush's major opponent is Democratic Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, whose primary campaign was successful in securing the majority of Democratic delegate votes. For his presidential campaign, see John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004.
Early fundraising
President Bush, facing no major challengers for the 2004 Republican presidential nomination, had an early advantage in fundraising, and raised over $130 million before early March 2004, when John Kerry emerged as the Democrats' presumptive nominee. Bush's fundraising totals were greater than all of the Democratic candidates during the Democratic primaries combined.
Television advertising
9/11 Campaign Controversy
Bush's campaign lauched its first major set of television commercials on March 3, 2004. Although these four spots (three in English and one in Spanish) contained no reference to Senator Kerry, two (one in English and the one in Spanish, both titled, "Safer, Stronger") generated controversy for their inclusion of four seconds of images drawn from the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, including the wreckage of the World Trade Center site, images of New York firefighters (the New York firefighters' union supported Kerry), and the image of a flag-draped coffin being carried out of the attack site.[1]
Some families of 9/11 victims accused the Bush campaign of being insensitive to the memory of those who died and of exploiting the tragedy for his personal political gain. Bush campaign advisor Karen Hughes defended the ads as "very tasteful" and noted that 9/11 was a defining event for Bush's presidency.
The main topic of this heated discussion is the use of actual images of the attack. The use of images from the attack, said Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, on Face the Nation, implies support from New York firefighters. Rendell claims that a New York firefighters union head supports Kerry for President.
Defenders of the Bush messages liken his messages to those of Franklin D. Roosevelt's re-election campaign, which used images of the December 7 attack by Japan on the United States and advised Americans to "Remember Pearl Harbor."
Endorsements
George Bush received endorsements from many Republicans, Democrat Senator Zell Miller of Georgia and former (12 year) mayor of New York City Ed Koch.
Slogan
Bush camp never officially announced their campaign slogan for this year, but it seems that they have chosen 'Yes, America Can!' as their campaign main slogan. Bush campaign made several bus tours bearing their de facto slogan around the country from earlier this year, and their official site also have that slogan above. It is likely seen to boost Bush's image as optimist and to color the country as the state of getting better economically and so forth after hardship of 9-11, war and recession. Picturing the candidate as optimist and the country in optimistic touch was widely successful in 1984 campaign, which was used by then President Ronald Reagan.
Vice Presidential Choices
George W. Bush is planning to have Dick Cheney again as his running mate, but many experts say that Bush will do better if he drops Cheney. Speculation about vice presidential possibilities (besides Cheney) have included:
- Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York
- Bill Owens, Governor of Colorado
- Condoleezza Rice, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
- Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader
- Colin Powell, Secretary of State - This choice is extremely improbable, as many sources have said that Mr. Powell has deep personal problems with many key members of the Bush administration. He has hinted that he will not continue in his post as Secretary of State should Bush win the election in 2004. His chief of staff Larry Wilkerson told a journalist at GQ, "My considered opinion is that he [Powell] is...He's tired. Mentally and physically. And if the president were to ask him to stay on—if the president is reelected and the president were to ask him to stay on, he might for a transitional period, but I don't think he'd want to do another four years."
However, Bush-Cheney '04 has asserted that Vice President Cheney will remain on the ticket.
Issue stances
George W. Bush, as well as his Democrat opponent John F. Kerry, has refused, on 23 separate occasions, to respond to Project Vote Smart's National Political Awareness Test.[2]
Abortion
President Bush opposes abortion. In his words, "The promises of our Declaration of Independence are not just for the strong, the independent, or the healthy. They are for everyone -- including unborn children. We are a society with enough compassion and wealth and love to care for both mothers and their children, to see the promise and potential in every human life."
Community Aid
President Bush established the Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, which allows the federal government to fund community aid programs that are provided by a religious institution. He has proposed a youth mentoring program for disadvantaged students and children of prisoners.
Economy
Bush supports making the tax cuts passed during his first term permanent; he maintains that they made the recession shallower than it would have been.
Education
President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires mandatory standardized testing, forces schools that do not meet standards to provide alternate options for students, and attempts to close the race and gender gap in schools. His FY 2005 budget proposes a 49% increase in elementary and secondary education compared to the FY 2001 budget.
Environment
President Bush's Clear Skies Act aims to reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by about 70% over the next fifteen years. His FY 2005 budget provides $4.4 billion for conservation programs. He signed legislation pushing for the cleanup of abandoned industrial sites (also known as brownfields) and keeping forest fires at bay. He was under criticsm for rejecting the Kyoto treaty, which would help solve the global warming problem. The Bush administration has stated that this would cost the economy up to $400 billion.
Homeland Security
After the September 11th terrorist attacks, President Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act and created the Department of Homeland Security. He also created the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) and the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC). Is currently promoting the idea of an independent "Czar of Intelligence" outside of the White House in response to the 9/11 Commission's findings.
National Security and Foreign Policy
Presient Bush submitted his National Security Strategy of the United States . The "three pillars" of this are to
- Defend the peace by working against terrorists and terrorist-tolerating regimes
- Preserve the peace by maintaing relations with allies and reaching out to nations to combat terrorism.
- Extend the peace by spreading democracy and human rights across the globe.
The White House looks at five nations as successes in his foreign policy.
Supports continued American involvement involvement in Afghanistan at the request of the government. Believes President Hamid Karzai that Afghanistan is making progress.
In a series of negotiations which involved Libya, Britain, and the United States, Libya turned over materials that are necessary to the production of nuclear weapons.
Supports continued American presence in Iraq at the request of the Iraq interim government. Promotes having democratic elections by January of 2005.
Pakistan's border with Afghanistan places that nation in a strategic ___location. Pakistan has cooperated with the United States since the September 11th attacks, arresting suspected terrorists and providing intelligence on terrorist plans and communications.
President Bush is putting pressure on the Saudi Royal Family to directly combat terrorism and to seize the assets of terrorists operating within their borders.
Same-sex marriage and gay rights
President Bush has a strong belief in "protecting the sanctity of marriage." He does not support gay marriage and has been pushing for an amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Features of the campaign
The foundation of President Bush's campaign for re-election is ideological conservatism. Members of the campaign team believe there are clear ideological differences between George W. Bush and John Kerry, and believe this contrasts with the 2000 Presidential election, in which both candidates attempted to portray themselves as "centrists".[3] Critics have argued that the crux of Bush's campaign is the suggestion that John Kerry would be soft on terrorism in comparison to George Bush, and to present Bush as a "war President". They also claim that the Bush campaign is concerned mainly with personalities rather than tackling ideological issues. [4]
External links
- The Official Re-election Site for George W. Bush
- [5] Bush Campaign Lies blog - a site that is critical of the campaign