One Night in Boston: Third Presidential Debate
The mood in the Democratic leadership was getting tenser by the time of the final debate. Kerry was still trailing by 8 points and needed an electoral miracle at this point to come close. Kerry later admitted that even though he thought that he had run a good campaign, that by the third debate he was looking for answers and throwing darts at a wall to see what stuck. The Democrats were banking on trying to make Iraq the signature issue to get Bush, but Fallujah seemed to have given pause to that idea. Good news from the war made it clear to the Democrats that they needed to change the tone of the race, and were going to need to do it quickly. As one pundit noted, “Kerry is trying to turn a ship on a dime, and I just don’t know if there is enough time to be able to accomplish that.” Edwards had been sent into the South to try and connect with voters who matched his political brand, and unfortunately for Kerry that proved to be a mistake.
Edwards had been viewed as a rising star because he had won in the South, and hadn’t really failed before, and there was a lot of interest in him when Kerry asked him to join the ticket. The problem was that Edwards seemed to have a reluctance to attack President Bush. It was almost like he seemed to not be reading the tone of the race, and it’s still one reason why he had seemingly not done as well in his own campaign months earlier. Historians agree that Edwards was not the correct choice, and a lot of people suggested that Dick Gephardt would have been a better choice. Edwards had attempted to speak to Southern voters, but there was a disconnect as they were already feeling more positive because of the Bush campaign.
Speaking of Bush, his campaign had been given a dose in the arm because of Fallujah, and he continued to capitalize on the his theme of “America is Winning”, which proved to be a clear and easily digestible soundbite that was repeated ad nauseum on conservative media outlets, and was plastered on Bush campaign merchandise.
The third campaign was held at Arizona State and focused on domestic policy. Bush was regarded as the clear winner mostly because of one answer, that clearly seemed to strike a chord with the audience that tuned in. When asked by moderator Bob Schieffer about how his vision for America contrasted with Kerry, Bush said “Well, Senator Kerry likes to talk about America as being led into a questionable position under my administration. Well, the American people have already continued to win every single day. Each day on this campaign, I see America continuing to prosper, and there Is a sense of normalcy that pervades this country. The terrorists wanted to take that away from us, and we beat them back in Iraq. There are homes being bought and sold all over this country, and families have used those homes to raise a generation that will mold the future of this country. America is winning because we are continuing our way of life, and my administration can build on that in a second term.”
Author Notes: We are back, and thanks for the wait. This chapter is setting up for the election, which you shall see either the next update or the one after. I'm open to hearing any suggestions for things I can include, and hope you enjoy reading this TL.