Although United States Democrats were determined to minimise the Bush-bashing, they quickly got into a spat with Republicans as a silly photo opportunity sparked a photo war.
While Democrats rallied at their Boston convention, their nominee John Kerry was on a tour of a sterile NASA facility at Cape Canaveral in Florida with former astronauts turned senators John Glenn and Bill Nelson.
Ignoring the political rule to avoid being caught eating or wearing a silly hat, Mr Kerry donned a turquoise "safe suit" - a goofy-looking outfit.
The Bush campaign fired off emails of the Kerry photo - paired with the infamous shot of 1988 Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis in a tank - under the headline "Earth to Kerry".
Mr Dukakis had been banished from the Democratic convention as a Massachusetts liberal the party would prefer to forget.
A senior Democratic strategist laughed off the comparison the Bushies made to Mr Dukakis.
"The difference is that Kerry is six feet four and one of the most masculine guys anybody's ever seen," he said.
But the Kerry camp, asked for a response, sent photos of Mr Bush in a ceremonial kimono, cheerleading at Yale and picking his nose years ago at a baseball game.
"The only candidate who plays dress-up is George W Bush. He is the one who put on a flight suit, landed on an aircraft carrier and said 'Mission accomplished'," a Kerry official said.
Democratic Party spokesman Jano Cabrera told the New York Daily News, "Given that this is the party that most inexcusably used footage from 9/11 in political ads, I don't think they're ones to say when pictures are worth a thousand words."
AP