President to have visited the city since Jimmy Carter in 1979. While some were excited to have a sitting President in the city, others reacted with mixed feelings - especially when most of those allowed to attend a speech by Bush were only those who planned on voting for him in November. Among those in attendance was former Iowa Hawkeyes Football Head Coach, Hayden Fry, who spoke about his friendship with George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush in Texas and introduced the President to the standing room only crowd. A World War II veteran who was denied tickets by campaign staffers only added to the controversy. Bush returned to Dubuque on October 26, 2004 to attend another campaign rally at the Grand River Event Center. Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry also visited the city several times during his campaign. On July 3, 2004, Kerry watched the fireworks celebration that evening from a private boat sitting in the Mississippi River. On July 4, he attended a Catholic mass at Resurrection Church with Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack. Despite some speculation to the contrary, he was able to receive communion. He then continued on to visit several other communities in Iowa, including Cascade, and Cedar Rapids. On August 3, 2004, Kerry again visited the city, and spoke to a large crowd at the Five Flags Center. From Dubuque, he went to another campaign stop at Davenport, Iowa. In the days leading up to the election, there was considerable controversy among Catholics on how to vote. Some felt that with Kerry's pro-choice stance that Catholics should not vote for Kerry. Other Catholics - despite the fact that they opposed Kerry's stance on abortion committed to voting for him. These Catholics often pointed to the seamless garment idea espoused by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, and felt that when a person looked at all the issues that Kerry was the better candidate for office. Or people would take an "anyone but Bush" stance. Both parties took out full page advertisements in the Telegraph Herald. appealing to Catholics to vote for either Bush or Kerry. Officially, the Archdiocese maintained the traditional position that protection of the unborn is the most important and root issue in the tree of politics, as stated by Pope Benedict XVI. Recent events From June 27 to the June 29, 2004, Dubuque hosted the Grand Excursion. This excursion - which ran