Why Bush is teetering [View All]

[T Bone]

History and demographics suggest the president could wind up a loser.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/09/19/INGJ68OT8L1.DTL

FOUR REASONS BUSH IS AN UNDERDOG (1) A self-described "war president" needs to be winning the war at re- election time. U.S. troops are bogged down in Iraq, and the death toll is growing. (2) Bush and his party represent a declining demographic. The Republican Party is a white, male, Anglo-Saxon Protestant party, as photos from its convention show. (3) Re-election is not the presidential norm. Only 11 presidents have served eight consecutive years. President Reagan was the last Republican president to be re-elected. (4) Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000. The three presidents who failed the first time around to win the popular vote did not return to the White House.


-by -Martin F. Nolan, a veteran political reporter, is a fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/09/19/INGJ68OT8L1.DTL



good article, especially for us optimists. ;-)