The 2004 U.S. Presidential election wasn't all that different from the 1952 election: you had a Democratic candidate who was seen as something of an aristocratic egghead (John Kerry), and on the Republican ticket you had the extremely likeable George W. Bush. Bush was famously declared "the candidate you'd rather have a beer with" in a Zogby/Williams poll.

This personable image was an important factor in Bush's victory over Kerry, despite a lot of controversy because of messy foreign wars, 9/11, deregulation, and a mini-recession that occurred during his first term. It was this same likeability factor that Nixon was going for in his Checkers Speech.