In 2004 did you know that John Kerry might very well lose to Bush?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

41. I had the general sense that Kerry would (likely) not win

I hoped he would win but the writing was on the wall towards the end, specifically that Bush would eke out a small win. Bush and his policies may have been very unpopular but he had the media shilling for him 24-7-365 and 9/11 was still fresh in many people's minds and Bush was able to play upon that- as well as the specious notion that he could protect the country better than Kerry- to make people concerned enough about the idea of "switching horses". Plus, he just wasn't the strongest candidate that we could have had. The "Anybody but _______" strategy, unless the candidate has a certain kind of personality/charism, unfortunately, just isn't usually enough to win an election, which is why I felt reasonably certain that Romney would be an unsuccessful candidate this year. Little did I know just how ineptly he ran his campaign, however. As weak as Kerry's campaign seemed to be, he was at least able to make it close. Romney got washed out, winning only two states that President Obama won in 2008 (which were difficult ones to hold on to).