Regardless of all the political hoopla about blame for the failure to prevent 9/11 - the 2004 election will be a mirror of the 2002. The Bubbas who support Bush do so because he looks like one of them, not because of foreign or domestic policy considerations - of which they have no clue. If anything, the 9/11 blame game will strengthen Bush because it conveys the message that 9/11 was after all, preventable, if the right measures were taken. It is a latter-days Maginot line that creates a false sense of security where none exists.
9/11 demonstrated that guerilla warfare has been globalized. Gone are the days when US mercenaries could blow up people all around the world without the fear of any blowback on the US soil. The 9/11 showed that foreign guerillas now have a truly global reach - just like the US capitalists and their mercenaries. That though is quite troubling to the Bubbas - they do not feel safe anymore, and they need assurances that this will not happen again. Bush, in his stumbling redneck ways, is quite good at giving them that Maginot-line sense of security - and they will support him in November for that.
Wojtek