UPI looks at the President's success in using his office to project his issue.

Presidents always have the advantage of an incumbent, but nothing matches the U.S. armed forces for drama and color. The nine Democrats conduct their first debate Saturday evening at 9 p.m. EDT in South Carolina. They were unable to persuade any national channel to carry the debate live, and ABC finally agreed to tape it. The first national TV broadcast of it will air at 1:30 a.m.

Bush was able to produce the sound stage of a giant carrier and its 5,000 young Americans as a backdrop for what perhaps was his first campaign speech. Millions of people worldwide watched him land on the carrier deck.

It is a theme Americans will see again and again in the next months. This is the president of the war on terror. The Republican Party will hold its convention in New York in early September, literally a stone's throw from Ground Zero. The heroes of that day, the police and firemen, will be there. The heroes of the war in Afghanistan will be there and the heroes of the Battle of Iraq.