Bush v. Kerry: The Long Battle Begins

The 2004 presidential election is shaping up to be a hotly contested race. With more than seven months still to go before the general election, President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) have launched aggressive attacks on each other and both campaigns are already spending millions of dollars to get their messages out to voters.

Brookings convened a panel of presidential and election experts to give a progress report on the November election. Analysts with expertise in economics, foreign policy, campaign finance, advertising, and the presidency offered their perspectives on how these issues would affect the unusually long general election campaign.