Centurion

Issue date: 11/4/04 Section: Election Results

Media Credit: Vince Paravecchia Martin Sutton, chairman of the department of social and behavioral sciences at Bucks

Political Science Professor Martin Sutton believed that President George W. Bush would win Ohio and be reelected, while his opponent Senator Kerry had no chance in winning.

The issues of this year's election were different from any election the United State's has ever seen. The bombardment of commercials concerning issues from the economy to gay marriage flooded the airways. Sutton said, "Moral issues seem to be critical this election and I think Bush benefited from these issues. Social moral issues definitely hurt Kerry."

After the presidential debates, it was obvious that the country was divided in their views about Bush. "Either you like him or don't. But either way, [Bush] was charismatic and polarizing," Sutton said.

After the debates it seemed that things were looking up for the Democratic Party. However, it was not enough to send Kerry to office and Sutton believes there are many reasons for this.

"Kerry really made an error in the convention by talking about Vietnam too much and trying to defend his military experience," Sutton said. "It opened him up to attacks from the swift voters."

Vice President Dick Cheney has been a strong asset to the Republican Party and has been successful in the debates. This was not the case for Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards. "Kerry definitely made a mistake in choosing his running mate. There are others out there that would have been available to him. Edwards can't even carry his own state of North Carolina. I'm not sure he helped at all," Sutton explained.

With Bush in the lead, there are many questions about what he will do in the future that Americans want answered. The war in Iraq, the possibility of reissuing the draft, the economy, and taxes are among the top issues Americans are most concerned about.

Sutton said, "It's hard to say what he is going to do. We haven't gotten any hints. But, he's got numerous problems and he's going to have to deal with the huge economic problems. I think we'll have to wait until the State of the Union Address to see where he's heading."

In Sutton's opinion "taxes will go up, no matter who wins. It is very hard to lower taxes during a war."

Continued...

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