United States presidential election, 2004

Republican nomination

Republican Party Ticket, 2004
George W. Bush	Dick Cheney
for President	for Vice President
43rd President of the United States (2001–2009)	46th Vice President of the United States (2001–2009)
Campaign

Bush's popularity rose as a wartime president, and he was able to ward off any serious challenge to the Republican nomination. Senator Lincoln Chafee from Rhode Island considered challenging Bush on an anti-war platform in New Hampshire, but decided not to run after the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003.^[8]

On March 10, 2004, Bush officially clinched the number of delegates needed to be nominated at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City. He accepted the nomination on September 2, 2004, and retained Vice President Dick Cheney as his running mate. During the convention and throughout the campaign, Bush focused on two themes: defending America against terrorism and building an ownership society. Bush used populist ideals in an attempt to rally citizens behind him in a time of international terror.^[9] The ownership society included allowing people to invest some of their Social Security in the stock market, increasing home and stock ownership, and encouraging more people to buy their own health insurance.^[10]

Democratic Party nomination

Democratic Party Ticket, 2004
John Kerry	John Edwards
for President	for Vice President
U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1985–2013)	U.S. Senator from North Carolina (1999–2005)
Campaign

South Carolina primary

Senator Kerry at a primary rally in St. Louis, Missouri, at the St. Louis Community College – Forest Park

The following week, Edwards won the South Carolina primary and brought home a strong second-place finish in Oklahoma to Clark. Lieberman dropped out of the campaign the following day. Kerry dominated throughout February and his support quickly snowballed as he won caucuses and primaries, taking in wins in Michigan, Washington, Maine, Tennessee; Washington, D.C.; Nevada, Wisconsin, Utah, Hawaii, and Idaho. Clark and Dean dropped out during this time, leaving Edwards as the only real threat to Kerry. Kucinich and Sharpton continued to run despite poor results at the polls.

Other nominations

David Cobb the Green Party candidate

Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik

There were four other presidential tickets on the ballot in a number of states totaling enough electoral votes to have a theoretical possibility of winning a majority in the Electoral College. They were:

• Michael Badnarik / Richard Campagna, Libertarian Party (campaign). Badnarik was nominated on the third ballot and Campagna on the first ballot at the Libertarian National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, held May 28–31, 2004.
• David Cobb / Pat LaMarche, Green Party (campaign). Cobb was nominated on the second ballot at the 2004 Green National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, held June 23–28, 2004.
• Ralph Nader / Peter Camejo, independent (also Reform Party, Independent Party (DE), Populist Party (MD), Better Life Party, Cross-endorsements N.Y., Peace and Justice Party, Independence Parties of New York and South Carolina, and the Vermont Green Party who chose not to ratify the national party's presidential nominee).^[14]
• Michael Peroutka / Chuck Baldwin, Constitution Party (also Alaskan Independence Party).  Peroutka and Baldwin were unanimously nominated at the Constitution Party National Convention at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (June 23–26, 2004).

Campaign issues

Bush focused his campaign on national security, presenting himself as a decisive leader and contrasted Kerry as a "flip-flopper." This strategy was designed to convey to American voters the idea that Bush could be trusted to be tough on terrorism while Kerry would be "uncertain in the face of danger." Bush (just as his father did with Michael Dukakis in the 1988 election) also sought to portray Kerry as a "Massachusetts liberal", who was out of touch with mainstream Americans. One of Kerry's slogans was "Stronger at home, respected in the world." This advanced the suggestion that Kerry would pay more attention to domestic concerns; it also encapsulated Kerry's contention that Bush had alienated American allies by his foreign policy.

According to one exit poll, people who voted for Bush cited the issues of terrorism and traditional values as the most important factors in their decision.^[15] Kerry supporters cited the war in Iraq, the economy and jobs, and health care.^[15]

Bush speaking at campaign rally in St. Petersburg, Florida, October 19, 2004

Over the course of Bush's first term in office, his extremely high approval ratings immediately following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks steadily dwindled, rising only during combat operations in Iraq in spring 2003, and again following the capture of Saddam Hussein in December that same year.^[16]

Between August and September 2004, there was an intense focus on events that occurred in the late-1960s and early-1970s. Bush was accused of failing to fulfill his required service in the Texas Air National Guard.^[17] However, the focus quickly shifted to the conduct of CBS News after they aired a segment on 60 Minutes Wednesday, introducing what became known as the Killian documents.^[18] Serious doubts about the documents' authenticity quickly emerged,^[19] leading CBS to appoint a review panel that eventually resulted in the firing of the news producer and other significant staffing changes.^[20][21]

Meanwhile, Kerry was accused by the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, who averred that "phony war crimes charges, his exaggerated claims about his own service in Vietnam, and his deliberate misrepresentation of the nature and effectiveness of Swift boat operations compels us to step forward."^[22] The group challenged the legitimacy of each of the combat medals awarded to Kerry by the U.S. Navy, and the disposition of his discharge.

In the beginning of September, the successful Republican National Convention along with the allegations by Kerry's former mates gave Bush his first comfortable margin since Kerry had won the nomination. A post-convention Gallup poll showed the President leading the Senator by 14 points.^[23][24]

Debates

Neighboring yard signs for Bush and Kerry in Grosse Pointe, Michigan

Three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate were organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, and held in the autumn of 2004. As expected, these debates set the agenda for the final leg of the political contest. Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik and Green Party candidate David Cobb were arrested while trying to access the debates. Badnarik was attempting to serve papers to the Commission on Presidential Debates.

The first debate was held on September 30 at the University of Miami, moderated by Jim Lehrer of PBS. During the debate, slated to focus on foreign policy, Kerry accused Bush of having failed to gain international support for the invasion of Iraq, saying the only countries assisting the U.S. during the invasion were the United Kingdom and Australia. Bush replied to this by saying, "Well, actually, he forgot Poland." Later, a consensus formed among mainstream pollsters and pundits that Kerry won the debate decisively, strengthening what had come to be seen as a weak and troubled campaign.^[25][26] In the days after, coverage focused on Bush's apparent annoyance with Kerry and numerous scowls and negative facial expressions.

On October 5, the vice presidential debate between Cheney and Edwards was held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and was moderated by Gwen Ifill of PBS. An initial poll by ABC indicated a victory for Cheney, while polls by CNN and MSNBC gave it to Edwards.^{[27][28][29][30]}

The second presidential debate was held at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 8, moderated by Charles Gibson of ABC. Conducted in a town meeting format, less formal than the first presidential debate, this debate saw Bush and Kerry taking questions on a variety of subjects from a local audience.^[31] Bush attempted to deflect criticism of what was described as his scowling demeanor during the first debate, joking at one point about one of Kerry's remarks, "That answer made me want to scowl."^[32]

Bush and Kerry met for the third and final debate at Arizona State University on October 13.^[33] 51 million viewers watched the debate which was moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS News. However, at the time of the ASU debate, there were 15.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the Major League Baseball playoffs broadcast simultaneously. After Kerry, responding to a question about gay rights, reminded the audience that Vice President Cheney's daughter was a lesbian, Cheney responded with a statement calling himself "a pretty angry father" due to Kerry using Cheney's daughter's sexual orientation for his political purposes.^[34] Polls taken by Gallup in found that Kerry pulled ahead in October, but showed a tight race as the election drew to a close.^[35]

Osama bin Laden videotape

On October 29, four days before the election, excerpts of a video of Osama bin Laden addressing the American people were broadcast on al Jazeera. In his remarks, bin Laden mentions the September 11, 2001 attacks and taunted Bush over his response to them. In the days following the video's release, Bush's lead over Kerry increased by several points.^[36]

Notable expressions and phrases

• Bring it on: Kerry used this to make the point that he was not afraid of attacks by the George W. Bush campaign. This phrase had previously been used by Bush in the summer of 2003, warning insurgents that the United States would not be intimidated to leave Iraq until after the country had been stabilized.^[37][38]
• Flip-flop: although the term existed prior to the elections, Republicans used it to describe John Kerry after he said "I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it."
• Joementum: used in the primaries by Joe Lieberman to say that he has momentum. It has since been used to ridicule Lieberman, since his campaign did not pick up momentum and he dropped out of the race.
• Swiftboating: a term used during the campaign to describe the work of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The term has been used since the campaign to describe a harsh attack by a political opponent that is dishonest, personal and unfair.
• You forgot Poland: paraphrased from Bush's comment in the first debate when he said "Well, actually, he forgot Poland." Used to emphasize that the coalition against Iraq was not as big as the list suggested because most of the participating countries sent a small number of troops.

Results by state

The following table records the official vote tallies for each state as reported by the official Federal Election Commission report. The column labeled "Margin" shows Bush's margin of victory over Kerry (the margin is negative for states and districts won by Kerry).

Although Guam has no votes in the Electoral College, they have held a straw poll for their presidential preferences since 1980. In 2004, the results were Bush 21,490 (64.1%), Kerry 11,781 (35.1%), Nader 196 (0.58%) and Badnarik 67 (0.2%).^[40]

Close states

Red font color denotes those won by Republican President George W. Bush; blue denotes states won by Democrat John Kerry.

States where margin of victory was under 1% (22 electoral votes):

1. Wisconsin 0.38%
2. Iowa 0.67%
3. New Mexico 0.79%

States where margin of victory was under 5% (93 electoral votes):

1. New Hampshire 1.37%
2. Ohio 2.11% (tipping point state)
3. Pennsylvania 2.50%
4. Nevada 2.59%
5. Michigan 3.42%
6. Minnesota 3.48%
7. Oregon 4.16%
8. Colorado 4.67%

States where margin of victory was more than 5% but less than 10% (149 electoral votes):

1. Florida 5.01%
2. Maine's 2nd Congressional District 5.82%
3. New Jersey 6.68%
4. Washington 7.18%
5. Missouri 7.20%
6. Delaware 7.59%
7. Virginia 8.20%
8. Hawaii 8.74%
9. Maine 9.00%
10. Arkansas 9.76%
11. California 9.95%

Notes on results

Bush received 62,040,610 popular votes compared to Kerry's 59,028,444.

Because of a request by Ralph Nader, New Hampshire held a recount. In New York, Bush obtained 2,806,993 votes on the Republican ticket and 155,574 on the Conservative Party ticket. Kerry obtained 4,180,755 votes on the Democratic ticket and 133,525 votes on the Working Families ticket. Nader obtained 84,247 votes on the Independence ticket, and 15,626 votes on the Peace and Justice ticket.

Note also: Official Federal Election Commission Report, with the latest, most final, and complete vote totals available.

Finance

These maps show the amount of attention given by the campaigns to the close states. At left, each waving hand represents a visit from a presidential or vice-presidential candidate during the final five weeks. At right, each dollar sign represents one million dollars spent on TV advertising by the campaigns during the same time period.

• George W. Bush (R) $367,227,801 / 62,040,610 = $5.92
• John Kerry (D) $326,236,288 / 59,028,444 = $5.53
• Ralph Nader (I) $4,566,037 / 465,151 = $9.82
• Michael Badnarik (L) $1,093,013 / 397,265 = $2.75
• Michael Peroutka (C) $729,087 / 143,630 = $5.08
• David Cobb (G) $493,723 / 119,859 = $4.12
• Walt Brown (SPUSA) $2,060 / 10,837 = $0.19
• (money spent/total votes=average spent per vote)

Source: FEC^[43]

2004 United States Electoral College

Ballot access

Faithless elector in Minnesota

One elector in Minnesota cast a ballot for president with the name of "John Ewards" [sic] written on it.^[44] The Electoral College officials certified this ballot as a vote for John Edwards for president. The remaining nine electors cast ballots for John Kerry. All ten electors in the state cast ballots for John Edwards for vice president (John Edwards's name was spelled correctly on all ballots for vice president).^[45] This was the first time in U.S. history that an elector had cast a vote for the same person to be both president and vice president.

Electoral balloting in Minnesota was performed by secret ballot, and none of the electors admitted to casting the Edwards vote for president, so it may never be known who the faithless elector was. It is not even known whether the vote for Edwards was deliberate or unintentional; the Republican Secretary of State and several of the Democratic electors have expressed the opinion that this was an accident.^[46]

Electoral vote error in New York

New York's initial electoral vote certificate indicated that all of its 31 electoral votes for president were cast for "John L. Kerry of Massachusetts" instead of John F. Kerry, who won the popular vote in the state.^[47] This was apparently the result of a typographical error, and an amended electoral vote certificate with the correct middle initial was transmitted to the President of the Senate prior to the official electoral vote count.^[48]

Analysis

Map comparing voter turnout to result

• Compared to 2000 vs. Al Gore, Bush picked up a net gain of 8 electoral votes due to narrow victories in Iowa and New Mexico while conceding a close loss in New Hampshire, and a net gain of 7 votes due to the reapportionment of electors in 2003 as a result of the 2000 census, for a total net gain of 15 electoral votes.
• This was the first election since 1988 in which the winning presidential candidate of either party won an absolute majority (over 50%) of the popular vote.
• 2004 marked the only time at which a president who lost the popular vote in the preceding election won it in the following election.
• Bush won the popular vote with 50.73% to Kerry's 48.27%. Although in percentage terms it was the closest popular margin ever for a victorious sitting president, Bush received 2.5% more than Kerry. Bush's absolute victory margin (approximately 3 million votes) was the smallest of any sitting president since Harry S. Truman in 1948.
• At least 12 million more votes were cast than in the 2000 election. Voter turnout was unusually high. American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate reported a record turnout of 60.7% of eligible voting-age citizens, 6.4% higher than turnout in the previous election and the highest since 1968.^[49] Note, however, that the "eligible" voting-age electorate is by definition smaller than the total voting-age population. In a formal report, the Federal Election Commission released a lower figure of 56.70% for the percentage of the electorate that voted for a presidential candidate,^[50] based on the latter, larger pool (as calculated by the Census Bureau).
• Owing to the nation's growing population and large turnout, both Bush and Kerry received more votes than any previous presidential candidate in American history. The previous record was held by Republican Ronald Reagan, who in 1984 received 54.4 million votes.
• Five states saw every county vote for one candidate: Bush won every county in Utah and Oklahoma while Kerry won every county in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Hawaii.
• As in 2000, electoral votes split along sharp geographical lines: the West Coast, Northeast, and most of the Great Lakes region for Kerry, and the South, Great Plains, and Mountain States for Bush. The widespread support for Bush in the Southern states continued the transformation of the formerly Democratic Solid South to the Republican South.
• This is the first time a candidate from either party won the presidency without carrying a single Northeastern state.
• Minor party candidates received many fewer votes, dropping from a total of 3.5% in 2000 to approximately one percent. As in 2000, Ralph Nader finished in third place, but his total declined from 2.9 million to 400,000 votes, leaving him with fewer votes than Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan had received in finishing fourth in 2000.
• The 2004 election completed the transition of Illinois from a swing state into a reliably Democratic one. Up through the 2000 election both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates campaigned in the state during elections. It went for Ronald Reagan and George Bush from 1980–1988, and Bill Clinton and Al Gore from 1992 to 2000. Both George Bush and Al Gore spent large amounts of time and resources in the state; in 2004 it was not the case.
• The election marked the first time an incumbent president was returned to office while his political party increased its numbers in both houses of Congress since Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 election. It was the first time for a Republican since William McKinley in the 1900 election. This did not last for long however, as the Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress in the 2006 elections.
• Although the election was close, nearly half of U.S. voters lived in a county where Bush or Kerry won by 20 percentage points or more. By comparison, only a quarter lived in such counties in 1976.^[51]
• Bush became the first president to be elected to two terms without carrying any of these states in either of his campaigns: California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. He was also the first Republican to be elected without ever carrying Vermont in either of his campaigns.
• This is the most recent election in which the Democratic Party nominated a person with military service.
• As of 2017, this election is the last time that the Republican nominee won Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, or Virginia.
• This is the first time New Hampshire did not support a Republican who was elected, which happened again in 2016.
• This is the first time and the only time (as of 2017) New Mexico voted for a Republican since 1988.
• This was the last time that the Republican nominee won Florida, Ohio and Iowa until 2016.
• This is the last time that the losing candidate won the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin (as well as Maine's second congressional district).
• Due to increasing Democratic support in urban regions, this is the last presidential election the Republican candidate won any of the following urban counties/county equivalents: Jefferson County, Alabama, Fresno County, California, Merced County, California, Riverside County, California, San Bernardino County, California, San Diego County, California, San Joaquin County, California, San Luis Obispo County, California, Stanislaus County, California, Ventura County, California, Arapahoe County, Colorado, Broomfield, Colorado, Jefferson County, Colorado, Hillsborough County, Florida, Osceola County, Florida, Douglas County, Georgia, Rockdale County, Georgia, Newton County, Georgia, DeKalb County, Illinois, DuPage County, Illinois, Kane County, Illinois, Lake County, Illinois, Will County, Illinois, Fayette County, Kentucky, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, Dakota County, Minnesota, Washington County, Minnesota, Washoe County, Nevada, Sandoval County, New Mexico, Buncombe County, North Carolina, Wake County, North Carolina, Hamilton County, Ohio, Clackamas County, Oregon, Centre County, Pennsylvania, Charleston County, South Carolina, Bexar County, Texas, Cameron County, Texas, Dallas County, Texas, Harris County, Texas, Loudoun County, Virginia, Manassas, Virginia, Prince William County, Virginia, Suffolk, Virginia, Island County, Washington, and Skagit County, Washington.

Electoral College changes from 2000

With the completion of the 2000 census, Congressional reapportionment took place, moving some representative districts from the slowest growing states to the fastest growing. As a result, several states had a different number of electors in the U.S. Electoral College in 2004 than in 2000, since the number of electors allotted to each state is equal to the sum of the number of Senators and Representatives from that state.

The following table shows the change in electors from the 2000 election. Red states represent those won by Bush; and blue states, those won by both Gore and Kerry. All states except Nebraska and Maine use a winner-take-all allocation of electors. Each of these states was won by the same party in 2004 that had won it in 2000; thus, George W. Bush received a net gain of seven electoral votes due to reapportionment while the Democrats lost the same amount.

(This table uses the currently common Red→Republican, Blue→Democratic color association, as do the maps on this page. Some older party-affiliation maps use the opposite color-coding for historical reasons.)

Points of controversy

• There is no individual federal agency with direct regulatory authority of the U.S. voting machine industry.^[57] However the Election Assistance Commission has full regulatory authority over federal testing and certification processes, as well as an influential advisory role in certain voting industry matters.^[58] Further oversight authority belongs to the Government Accountability Office, regularly investigating voting system related issues.^[59]
• The Ohio Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, who simultaneously served as co-chair of the 2004 Republican Presidential Campaign, came under fire for failing to uphold his legal obligation to investigate potential voter fraud, manipulation, and irregularities, in a 100-page report by the Congressional Judiciary Committee.
• The former president of Diebold Election Systems (Bob Urosevich) and the vice president of customer support at Election Systems & Software (Todd Urosevich) are brothers.^[60]
• Walden O'Dell the former CEO of Diebold (the parent company of voting machine manufacturer Diebold Election Systems) was an active fundraiser for George W. Bush's re-election campaign and wrote in a fund-raising letter dated August 13, 2003, that he was committed "to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President."^[61]
• Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates,^[62][63] served as the chairman of ES&S in the early 1990s when it operated under the name American Information Systems Inc. (AIS).^[64] ES&S voting machines tabulated 85 percent of the votes cast in Hagel's 2002 and 1996 election races. In 2003 Hagel disclosed a financial stake in McCarthy Group Inc., the holding company of ES&S.^[64]
• Global Election Systems, which was purchased by Diebold Election Systems and developed the core technology behind the company's voting machines and voter registration system, employed five convicted felons as consultants and developers.^[65]
• Jeff Dean, a former senior vice-president of Global Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold, had previously been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree. Bev Harris reports Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold Election Systems,^[66] though Diebold has disputed the consulting relationship.^[65] Dean was convicted of theft via "alteration of records in the computerized accounting system" using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.^[66]
• International election observers were barred from the polls in Ohio^[67][68] by then Republican Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. Blackwell's office argues this was the correct interpretation of Ohio law.^[68]
• California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley decertified all Diebold Election Systems touch-screen voting machines due to computer-science reports released detailing design and security concerns.^[69][70]
• 30% of all U.S. votes cast in the 2004 election were cast on direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machine, which do not print individual paper records of each vote.^[71]
• Numerous statistical analyses showed "discrepancy in the number of votes Bush received in counties that used the touch-screen machines and counties that used other types of voting equipment" as well as discrepancies with exit polls, favoring President George W. Bush.^{[72][73][74][75][76][77][78]}

International observers

At the invitation of the United States government, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sent a team of observers to monitor the presidential elections in 2004. It was the first time the OSCE had sent observers to a U.S. presidential election, although they had been invited in the past.^[79] In September 2004 the OSCE issued a report on U.S. electoral processes^[80][81] and the election final report.^[82] The report reads: "The November 2, 2004 elections in the United States mostly met the OSCE commitments included in the 1990 Copenhagen Document. They were conducted in an environment that reflects a long-standing democratic tradition, including institutions governed by the rule of law, free and generally professional media, and a civil society intensively engaged in the election process. There was exceptional public interest in the two leading presidential candidates and the issues raised by their respective campaigns, as well as in the election process itself."

Earlier, some 13 U.S. Representatives from the Democratic Party had sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking for the UN to monitor the elections. The UN responded that such a request could only come from the official national executive. The move was met with opposition from some Republican lawmakers.^[83] The OSCE is not affiliated with the United Nations.

Electronic voting

For 2004, some states expedited the implementation of electronic voting systems for the election, raising several issues:

• Software. Without proper testing and certification, critics believe electronic voting machines could produce an incorrect report due to malfunction or deliberate manipulation.^[84]
• Recounts. A recount of an electronic voting machine is not a recount in the traditional sense. The machine can be audited for irregularities and voting totals stored on multiple backup devices can be compared, but vote counts will not change.
• Partisan ties. Democrats noted the Republican or conservative ties of several leading executives in the companies providing the machines.^[85]

Campaign law changes

The 2004 election was the first to be affected by the campaign finance reforms mandated by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain–Feingold Bill for its sponsors in the United States Senate). Because of the Act's restrictions on candidates' and parties' fundraising, a large number of so-called 527 groups emerged. Named for a section of the Internal Revenue Code, these groups were able to raise large amounts of money for various political causes as long as they do not coordinate their activities with political campaigns. Examples of 527s include Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, MoveOn.org, the Media Fund, and America Coming Together. Many such groups were active throughout the campaign season (there was some similar activity, although on a much lesser scale, during the 2000 campaign).

To distinguish official campaigning from independent campaigning, political advertisements on television were required to include a verbal disclaimer identifying the organization responsible for the advertisement. Advertisements produced by political campaigns usually included the statement, "I'm [candidate's name], and I approve this message." Advertisements produced by independent organizations usually included the statement, "[Organization name] is responsible for the content of this advertisement", and from September 3 (60 days before the general election), such organizations' ads were prohibited from mentioning any candidate by name. Previously, television advertisements only required a written "paid for by" disclaimer on the screen.

This law was not well known or widely publicized at the beginning of the Democratic primary season, which led to some early misperception of Howard Dean, who was the first candidate to buy television advertising in this election cycle. Not realizing that the law required the phrasing, some people viewing the ads reportedly questioned why Dean might say such a thing—such questions were easier to ask because of the maverick nature of Dean's campaign in general.

Colorado's Amendment 36

A ballot initiative in Colorado, known as Amendment 36, would have changed the way in which the state apportions its electoral votes. Rather than assigning all 9 of the state's electors to the candidate with a plurality of popular votes, under the amendment Colorado would have assigned presidential electors proportionally to the statewide vote count, which would be a unique system (Nebraska and Maine assign electoral votes based on vote totals within each congressional district). Opponents claimed that this splitting would diminish Colorado's influence in the Electoral College, and the amendment ultimately failed, receiving only 34% of the vote.

Other elections

• United States gubernatorial elections, 2004
• United States House elections, 2004
• United States Senate elections, 2004

Books

• Ceaser, James W. and Andrew E. Busch. Red Over Blue: The 2004 Elections and American Politics (2005), narrative history.
• Greene, John C. and Mark J. Rozell, eds. The Values Campaign?: The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections (2006).
• Miller, Mark Crispin. Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election (2005) –
• Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash And Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005).
• Stempel III, Guido H. and Thomas K. Hargrove, eds. The 21st-Century Voter: Who Votes, How They Vote, and Why They Vote (2 vol. 2015).

Official candidate websites

• Michael Badnarik (Libertarian) (archived version from the U.S. Library of Congress United States Election 2004 Web Archive)
• George W. Bush (Republican) (archived version from the U.S. Library of Congress United States Election 2004 Web Archive)
• David Cobb (Green) (archived version from the U.S. Library of Congress United States Election 2004 Web Archive)
• John Kerry (Democrat) (archived version from the U.S. Library of Congress United States Election 2004 Web Archive)
• Ralph Nader (Independent) (archived version from the U.S. Library of Congress United States Election 2004 Web Archive)
• Michael Peroutka (Constitution) at the Wayback Machine (archived November 1, 2004)

Election maps and analysis

• Maps of proportion shift, counties more Republican, counties more Democratic, compared to 2000 election.
• NYTimes.com 2004 Election Results Interactive Graphic
• Sheppard, Michael. "How close were U.S. Presidential Elections? 2004". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on August 25, 2012.
• PBS.org Interactive Electoral College Map
• Maps and cartograms of the 2004 U.S. presidential election results – Michael Gastner, Cosma Shalizi, and Mark Newman, University of Michigan
• Election 2004 Results – Robert J. Vanderbei, Princeton University
• Interactive Atlas of the 2004 Presidential Election Results – Dave Liep
• Alternate views of the electoral results map
• Assessing the Vote and the Roots of American Political Divide

State-by-state forecasts of electoral vote outcome

• Probability analysis of Electoral College based on latest poll results by state
• Electoral Vote Predictor 2004
• Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball
• Race 2004 at the Wayback Machine (archived November 2, 2004)
• USA Today polls

Controversies

• About.com, Democracy & Voting Rights – Ohio 2004 Election as Lesson in What Can Go Wrong
• "The Whoppers of 2004". FactCheck. Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. October 31, 2004. Archived from the original on November 1, 2004.

Election campaign funding

• Money Maps

Campaign ads

• Campaign commercials from the 2004 election