The 2004 presidential race can be remembered as much for the candidates’ political fisticuffs — and starkly different views on the economy’s health and progress in the Iraq war — as the conservative voter turnout that pushed Republican President George W. Bush into a second term.
As in 2000, this year’s White House contest reflected a divided electorate that was echoed in the fashion industry. Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry had strong backing from such designers as Donna Karan, Vera Wang, Charles Nolan, Betsey Johnson and Diane von Furstenberg, and from executives at Estée Lauder, Chanel, J. Crew, L.L. Bean and Levi Strauss.
Bush’s fashion supporters included apparel and retail executives from Kellwood, VF Corp., Jockey International, St. John Knits, The Limited, Target, Sears, Wal-Mart, Dillard’s, Federated and Saks Inc.
The election also raised Republican majorities in Congress, including several social conservatives in the Bush mold, such as Senator-elect Jim DeMint from South Carolina.
DeMint’s election was notable among apparel retailers and importers because he didn’t court one of their political adversaries: domestic textile producers, a longtime constituency in the state whose key issue is reforming U.S. trade policy. DeMint replaces departing Democratic Sen. Fritz Hollings, a textile industry friend on Capitol Hill for 38 years who used Senate rules to block, curb or delay trade-expanding measures. Executives from textile firms, including Mt. Vernon, Inman and Cheraw mills and Springs Industries, backed DeMint’s opponent, Democratic state school superintendent Inez Tenenbaum, whose trade stance was similar to Hollings’.
Next year, Bush is expected to bring the Central American Free Trade Agreement and other trade measures to Congress for a vote, including renewal of his Trade Promotion Authority to negotiate more deals.
But even within the party, there remains opposition to Bush’s expansive trade plan, which he views as a crucial U.S. economic engine. In the last four years, the economy has shed more than 2 million manufacturing jobs, including 350,000 in textiles and apparel, and import competition is cited as the main culprit.
Bush has a lot more than trade on his to-do list. Besides his Social Security and health care reforms, Bush wants to replace the U.S. tax code — he’s been skimpy on details — as well as to push elimination of the inheritance tax and make permanent several individual tax cuts secured in his first term.