_______ (2004) NEWSWEEK (entire issue of 11/15)

George Bush grew up in a family that treasured New England but became Texans. At Yale, he was a popular preppie in prestigious fraternity. His grades were modest, but his social skills were excellent. He struggled with alcohol and then after some unsuccessful business ventures, he had a religious conversion and stopped drinking. He became president of the United States in 2000 by a vote in the Supreme Court. However, the Republican Party had a sizable majority so that he never vetoed any legislation. His basic premise was to cut taxes on wealth and dividends and place it on income.

John Kerry’s father had a very prestigious job as a diplomat, but money was tight. He went to excellent schools, but his money was limited. As a Jew whose family converted to Catholicism, he was an outsider at Yale. Both he and Bush were tapped to become members of the exclusive SKULL AND BONES.
Kerry would take a cab on the Sabbath to go to mass in town and off campus. He went into the service and served in Vietnam. He earned numerous medals of valor, but came to believe that he was doing the wrong thing. After war protests, he returned to law school became a prosecutor and later a senator from the state of Massachusetts.

Bush found the primaries of 2004 easy. He did not have any opposition. His organization was tight and regimented. The folksy candidate could become frosty with subordinates. The winter and spring were preparation for the summer/fall campaign. Bush stayed on messages, workers dealt with controversy.

Kerry had a new organization that as one would think was filled with chaos and became less so after
Mary Beth Cahill and James Sasso took over. Dean self destructed before Iowa and Kerry coasted to nomination. He chose John Edwards as his running mate.

Bush had difficulty admitting that he was wrong and Kerry had trouble recognizing when he was right. Swing Voters began to see a “strong and wrong Bush” versus a “waffler” in Kerry. Throughout the summer, Kerry wandered and Bush lacked passion.

In the debates (particularly in the first) Kerry won overwhelmingly, looked presidential, and explained his positions clearly. He was back in the race. The polls were tight.

On Election Day, the youth vote was greatly improved to nearly 50%. However, the evangelicals had an even greater turn out and Bush won the election by 2 to 3%. This was not the 18% landslide of Reagan over Mondale, but it was enough to claim a mandate. Again, the Republican Party made vast improvements in the house and senate so that Bush could potentially carry out his agenda.

After his election, the stock market improved by 300 points, the dollar fell to a new low, and one young man from Georgia drove to ground zero in the Big Apple, climbed to a tall tower and jumped. A note on him said he did not want to live under Bush.

For the rest of America, life went on. They are united in their division of Blue and Red States.