5. GEORGE W. BUSH’S DRUNK-DRIVING RECORD SURFACES. The revelation that Republican nominee George W. Bush had been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol in 1976 came five days before the 2000 election. In his memoir, Bush adviser Karl Rove claims that the report cost Bush five states—and accused Democrats of leaking the news to boost Democratic nominee Vice President Al Gore. “Did this last-minute revelation of Bush’s decades-old DUI hurt?” Rove wrote, according to an memoir excerpt. “Yes, a lot.” The revelation knocked the campaign off-message, raised alarms with Bush’s credibility, and diminished support for Bush among evangelical and socially conservative voters, Rove wrote.
6. OSAMA BIN LADEN SENDS A MESSAGE. A video message from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden gave President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign an October boost, and Bush’s Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, later blamed the video for his loss. "I believe that 9/11 was the central deciding issue in this race," Kerry told NBC’s Meet the Press in January 2005. "And the tape--we were rising in the polls up until the last day when the tape appeared. We flatlined the day the tape appeared and went down on Monday." The video led voters to feel less secure about electing a new president while the nation was at war, Kerry suggested. In the video, bin Laden referenced the U.S. election: “Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands,” said the architect of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox. Sign up for National Journal's morning alert, Wake-Up Call, and afternoon newsletter, The Edge. Subscribe here.
Leave A Comment