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The United States presidential election of 2004 was the 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, Senator from Massachusetts. Bush and incumbent Vice President Dick Cheney were renominated by their party with little difficulty. Howard Dean was initially the frontrunner for the Democratic Party's nomination, but Kerry won nearly all of the primaries and caucuses. Kerry chose Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who had himself sought that party's 2004 presidential nomination, to be his running mate. Foreign policy was the dominant theme throughout the election campaign, particularly Bush's conduct of the War on Terrorism and the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Domestic issues were debated as well, including the economy and jobs, health care, and moral values. Bush's margin of victory in the popular vote was the smallest ever for a reelected incumbent president, but marked the first time since his father's victory 16 years prior that a candidate won a majority of the popular vote. The electoral map closely resembled that of 2000, with only three states changing sides: New Mexico and Iowa voted Republican in 2004 after having voted Democratic in 2000, while New Hampshire voted Democratic in 2004 after previously voting Republican. In the Electoral College, Bush received 286 votes to Kerry's 251.〔("Campaign 2004 Election Results" ). ''USA Today''. Retrieved January 16, 2013.〕 ==Background== George W. Bush won the presidency in 2000 after the Supreme Court's decision in ''Bush v. Gore'' remanded the case to the Florida Supreme Court, which declared there was not sufficient time to hold a recount without violating the U.S. Constitution. Just eight months into his presidency, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 suddenly transformed Bush into a wartime president. Bush's approval ratings surged to near 90%. Within a month, the forces of a coalition led by the United States entered Afghanistan, which had been sheltering Osama bin Laden, suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks. By December, the Taliban had been removed as rulers of Kabul, although a long and ongoing reconstruction would follow, severely hampered by ongoing turmoil and violence within the country. The Bush administration then turned its attention to Iraq, and argued the need to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq had become urgent. Among the stated reasons were that Saddam's regime had tried to acquire nuclear material and had not properly accounted for biological and chemical material it was known to have previously possessed, and believed to still maintain. Both the possession of these weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and the failure to account for them, would violate the U.N. sanctions. The assertion about WMD was hotly advanced by the Bush administration from the beginning, but other major powers including China, France, Germany, and Russia remained unconvinced that Iraq was a threat and refused to allow passage of a UN Security Council resolution to authorize the use of force. Iraq permitted UN weapon inspectors in November 2002, who were continuing their work to assess the WMD claim when the Bush administration decided to proceed with war without UN authorization and told the inspectors to leave the country. The United States invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, along with a "coalition of the willing" that consisted of additional troops from the United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent, from Australia and Poland. Within about three weeks, the invasion caused the collapse of both the Iraqi government and its armed forces, however, the U.S. and allied forces failed to find any weapon of mass destruction in Iraq. Traces of former materials and weapons labs were reported to have been located, but no "smoking guns". Nevertheless, on May 1, George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier , in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, where he gave a speech announcing the end of "major combat operations" in the Iraq War. Bush's approval rating in May was at 66%, according to a CNN–USA Today–Gallup poll. However, Bush's high approval ratings did not last. First, while the war itself was popular in the U.S., the reconstruction and attempted "democratization" of Iraq lost some support as months passed and casualty figures increased, with no decrease in violence nor progress toward stability or reconstruction. Second, as investigators combed through the country, they failed to find the predicted WMD stockpiles, which led to debate over the rationale for the war. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States presidential election, 2004」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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