Until the Last Vote: Election 2004
By Kevin Mooney, 10.28.04

With under a week to the election, recent polls are showing the Presidential hopefuls in a close race. During the last weeks of the election President George W. Bush and Senator John F. Kerry have been campaigning to gain the support from the remaining undecided voters.

Bush, was in the lead, before the first debate saw his poll numbers sag slightly and Kerry pulled ahead. A Zogby Poll showed Kerry with a slight lead. Bush needed a strong performance in the next two debates to reassure supporters and recapture momentum.

Lindsay Taylor, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee (RNC) in a phone interview last week commented on key trends heading into the final stretch.

“We always knew Sen. Kerry was an experienced debater,” Taylor said. “But we are electing a commander-in-chief, not a debater-in-chief.”

Kerry’s liberal voting record in the U.S. Senate may alienate many voters, Taylor said. To gain favor among the voting pubic, in the final debate, Bush spent more time attacking his opponent’s votes on key issues.

Kerry argued in favor of meeting a “global test” before U.S. troops are sent into combat. Bush was quick to point out that Kerry voted against Operation Desert Storm in 1990 when a vast coalition was assembled.

He also hit the senator’s record on taxes and spending. The president claims his opponent’s voting record is more liberal than that of Ted Kennedy, the senior senator from Massachusetts.

Taylor said that the polls following the third debate showed Bush with a favorable lead. She attributes this lead to Bush’s frank attitude.

“Kerry gives complex answers but the president is straightforward,” Taylor said. “The public is still trying to entertain where Kerry stands.”

Targeting New Jersey
Most recently, Bush has been targeting states that were once considered safe Democratic wins. On Monday, Oct.18, Bush campaigned in New Jersey; a state intimately affected by Sept. 11.

“Senator Kerry’s approach would permit a response only after America is hit,” Bush said at a speech in Burlington County, N.J. “This kind of Sept. the 10th attitude is no way to protect our country...In an era of weapons of mass destruction, waiting for threats to arrive at our doorsteps is to invite disaster. Tyrants and terrorists will not give us polite notice before they attack our country.”

Bush’s leadership in the wake of Sept. 11 is making a difference in N.J., Taylor said. Polls show the commanding lead Kerry once held in the state has evaporated. N.J. has not voted for a Republican candidate since it chose the president’s father, George H.W. Bush, over Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis in 1988.

“Bush is a stronger more decisive leader,” Taylor said. “Sept. 11 matters in New Jersey.”