Red Over Blue

“Red Over Blue” by James Ceaser and Andrew Busch examines the 2004 Presidential election between George Bush and John Kerry and analyzes how a 527 organization cost John Kerry his bid for the Presidency. The excerpt begins by explaining how the Democratic National Convention went and that Kerry seemed to have a lot of support and enthusiasm. Throughout much of the campaign, Kerry had only trailed President Bush by 5 or 6 points. Later Ceaser and Busch explain how a 527 special political organization which was made possible by campaign finance reform championed by John McCain. The 527 organization was called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and was made up of men who had served in John Kerry’s swift boat during the Vietnam War. The group came out with an attack that criticized Kerry, questioning his heroism and stating that Kerry should not have received the medals he was awarded. This TV ad was very effective because the swift boat veterans looked straight into the camera and were very sincere. At first the group only spent $500,000 dollars on TV spots and in only three states, but after a few days the ad took-off. The ad was shown on all major national news networks and was written about in major newspapers. This attention led to large donations to the group, so they made a second TV ad. This ad made it impossible for Kerry to talk about his time in Vietnam because he could no longer talk about his service without being questioned about the swift boat TV ad. Ultimately, this is a great example of how influential a small interest group can be. This group spent very little on ads compared to Bush or Kerry but their ads probably had the most influence over the election.

Source: Lanahan pgs. 494-499