George W. Bush

==== Primary ====
Bush portrayed himself as a [[compassionate conservative]], implying he was more centrist than other Republicans. He campaigned on a platform that included bringing integrity and honor back to the White House, increasing the size of the military, cutting taxes, improving education, and aiding minorities.<ref name=msn /> By early 2000, the race had centered on Bush and Arizona Senator [[John McCain]].<ref name=msn />

Bush won the [[Iowa caucuses]] and, although heavily favored to win the [[New Hampshire primary]], trailed McCain by 19 percent and lost. Despite this, he regained momentum and effectively became the front runner after the [[Republican Party presidential primaries, 2000|South Carolina primary]], which according to ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' made history for his campaign's negativity. ''[[The New York Times]]'' described it as a [[smear campaign]].<ref name="anatomy">{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/21/the_anatomy_of_a_smear_campaign/ |title=The anatomy of a smear campaign |work=The Boston Globe |last=Davis |first=Richard H. |date=March 21, 2004 |access-date=June 23, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515081611/http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/21/the_anatomy_of_a_smear_campaign/ |archive-date=May 15, 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Hook|first1=Janet|last2=Finnegan|first2=Michael|date=March 17, 2007|title=McCain loses some of his rebel edge|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/17/nation/na-mccain17|access-date=June 23, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515081611/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/17/nation/na-mccain17|archive-date=May 15, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/us/politics/19mccain.html |title=Confronting Ghosts of 2000 in South Carolina |work=The New York Times |date=October 19, 2007 |access-date=April 14, 2013 |last=Steinhauer |first=Jennifer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209070019/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/us/politics/19mccain.html |archive-date=December 9, 2008 }}</ref>