During the 2004 campaign, residents of swing states were under constant bombardment by throat-grabbing political ads. In late September, the Bush campaign released a television ad titled "Peace and Security." The New York Times described the ad: "A clock ticks menacingly as a young mother pulls a quart of milk out of a refrigerator in slow motion, a young father loads toddlers into a minivan and an announcer intones ominously, 'Weakness invites those who would do us harm.'"
The most memorable Bush ad, released a few weeks before the election, opened in a thick forest, with shadows and hazy shots complementing the foreboding music. A female announcer ominously declared, "In an increasingly dangerous world, even after the first terrorist attack on America, John Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to slash America's intelligence operations by $6 billion — cuts so deep they would have weakened America's defenses." The ad then focused on a pack of wolves reclining in a clearing. The voiceover concluded, "And weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm," as the wolves began jumping up and running toward the camera. At the end of the ad, the president appeared and announced, "I'm George W. Bush and I approve this message."
One liberal cynic suggested that the ad's message was that voters would be eaten by wolves if Kerry won. A Bush advisor told ABC News that "the ad was produced and tested months ago. Voter reaction was so powerful that we decided to hold the ad to the end of the campaign and make it one of the closing spots."
