Bush and his campaign team seized on the idea of Bush as a " strong wartime leader , " though this was undermined by the increasingly-unpopular Iraq War . His conservative policies on tax cuts and several other issues appealed to many on the right , but Bush could also lay claim to some centrist achievements , including No Child Left Behind , Sarbanes-Oxley , and Medicare Part D. Fearing that he might hurt Bush 's re-election chances , Cheney offered to step down from the ticket , but Bush refused this offer , and the two were re-nominated without opposition at the 2004 Republican National Convention . On the advice of pollster Matthew Dowd , who perceived a steady decline in the number of swing voters , the 2004 Bush campaign emphasized turning out conservative voters rather than the persuasion of moderates
2004 Republican National Convention
2004 Republican National Convention
Presidency of George W. Bush