2004 Presidential Election
The Presidential race is polarizing the country, according to the Denver Post [April 25, 2004, "Bush vs. Kerry polarizes U.S."]. From the article, "Bush's re-election hopes have been rocked by bloody uprisings in Iraq, a record spike in casualties, and disclosures about the administration's lax response to terrorism before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Kerry has endured a perilous time as well. During the period when Americans were forming their initial impressions of the Democratic challenger, his Republican foes used their commanding financial advantage to buy TV ads that paint him as a tax-hiking flip-flopper. To some extent, these two political trials have served to cancel each other out, leaving the country as profoundly divided as it was at the end of the 2000 election, with Bush still favored, but by no means assured, in his race for re- election...The intense polarization has led campaign strategists on both sides to write off two-thirds of the 50 states, including Colorado, California, New York and Texas, as conquered territory. Voters in the 17 or 18 other "battleground states," which went for one candidate or the other by a narrow margin in 2000, are being inundated with television advertising. The battleground states include major prizes such as Ohio and Pennsylvania but also states with less Electoral College clout, such as New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and New Hampshire."
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