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The 2004 Presidential Election. George W. Bush vs. John Kerry. Republican Party Candidate. George W. Bush Incumbent Graduated from Yale University in 1968 Then graduated from Harvard Business School in 1975 Worked in oil businesses and co-owned the Texas Rangers.
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The 2004 Presidential Election George W. Bush vs. John Kerry
Republican Party Candidate • George W. Bush • Incumbent • Graduated from Yale University in 1968 • Then graduated from Harvard Business School in 1975 • Worked in oil businesses and co-owned the Texas Rangers. • Governor of Texas from 1995-2000
Democratic Candidate • John Kerry • Graduated from Yale University in 1966 • Joined the Naval Reserve • Graduated from Boston College Law School • Became an attorney & co-founded a private firm • U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
Third Party Candidates • Ralph Nader of the Reform Party (running for the fourth consecutive time) Apparently, Ralph Nader went to Kerry and gave him 20 pages filled with issues Nader felt needed to be a part of the Presidential Campaign. Nader said that if Kerry picked three of these issues to add into his campaign, he would not run for President and ask his supporters to vote for Kerry. After several days of Kerry not making any of these issues a part of his campaign, Nader announced that he would run for President. An Unreasonable Man
Main Issues in the 2004 Election Voters were concerned about many different topics during this time period, much of them sprouting from September 11. Main Issues: • Iraq • War on Terror • National Defense • Gay Marriage • Abortion • Education • Environment • Health Care • Budget/Taxes • Jobs/Trade • Gun Control.
The Media • The Media was an important part of the 2004 election. • TIME Magazine wrote an article titled, “2004 Election: Bush vs. Kerry vs. the Media” • This article mentions that during one of the debates between Bush and Kerry, Bush pointed out that it was not credible for Kerry to mention CBS as a source for facts, alluding to a previous 60 minutes episode about Bush’s National Guard Service. • On the other hand, Democrats complained about the bias coverage by Fox News and other media outlets.
Republican Ads • One of the most influential ads for Bush was created by a PAC committee titles Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. This ad was titled “Any Questions?” • Republican ads focused on criticizing Kerry’s character and reputation. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Zk9YmED48 OUCH!
Democratic Ads • Web ads were very popular during this election. • I remember this election pretty well. As a 5th grade student, I remember watching TV and noticing how, for lack of better words, dumb Bush appeared to be in many Democratic ads. • Democrats focused on Bush’s not-so-great way of speaking. http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2004/mistakes-were-made-web#4200 Note the intense, terrifying music…
Some people say that the election was decided even before the campaign began because of Bush’s previous term. The University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes found that many people who got information from the media were very misled and believed at least one of the following misconceptions before the campaign began: That Iraq had been directly linked to 9/11 That WMDs had been found in Iraq That world opinion supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq Because Bush initiated the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq, and many people believed the above misconceptions to be true, Bush had much support from the earliest parts of his campaign based on this information.