George W. Bush 2004 presidential campaign
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 and Democrat Senator Zell Miller of Georgia.
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."