Abstract

The 'Beat Bush' Brigades

The author claims that opposition to U.S. president George W. Bush has motivated large numbers of Americans to vote in the 2004 primaries. Almost twice as many Democrats showed up this year in Maine as in 1992, when, Maine Democratic Party chair Dottie Melanson says, it appears the previous record was set. Twice as many people participated in Iowa's 2004 caucuses as turned up to decide between Al Gore and Bill Bradley in 2000, and the same was true for Arizona's primary. "Democrats are more energized and angry than at any time since Lyndon Johnson's presidency," says Curtis Gans, of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate. While high primary and caucus participation does not guarantee that more Democrats will vote in November, Gans says it "probably translates into higher turnout and more Democrats at the polls" this fall. That prospect terrifies Republicans. The fight for the Democratic nomination, which Republicans had hoped would produce a battered challenger to the President, has instead confirmed Bush's vulnerability. Evidence of the extent to which the Beat Bush mantra has energized and unified Democrats is particularly troubling to GOP strategists, who had hoped to use hot-button issues--the latest being gay marriage--to divide Democrats. Perhaps just as troubling for the Bush team is the surprising level of anti-Bush sentiment among Republican primary voters.