[media-credit name=’AJ Maclean’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]As the presidential election approaches, some State Street stores are selling and displaying posters, buttons, postcards and bumpers stickers with political messages in their front windows — more often than not casting a negative message about President Bush.

Sunshine Daydream has many such anti-Bush messages displayed in its front window, including "Bush Lies," "Be Patriotic. Vote Bush Out" and "Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Republican."

A Sunshine Daydream employee who wished to remain anonymous said the anti-Bush materials were selling well, but the messages were more about peace than the presidential election and were not specifically supporting John Kerry's campaign.

"We're not really a political store," the employee said.

Poster Master has materials supporting both the Bush and Kerry campaigns in its window, but all the negative messages are directed at Bush. These include postcards with slogans such as "Only Dead Fish Go with the Flow" and "Regime Change Begins at Home. Vote."

Dan Waisman, owner of Poster Master, said that anti-Bush materials have been selling well, especially a large poster that reads "Bush Admits I Am Not One of the Great Linguists," and lists some of President Bush's public speaking mistakes.

Waisman said there were definitely more anti-Bush messages in Madison than anti-Kerry ones.

"Bush is an easy target," Waisman said in response.

One reason for the prevalence of anti-Bush messages on State Street could be the dominating liberal political views of the area.

"It's just the nature of the area itself," said Jessi Schober, co-chair of Students for Bush. Schober added in other areas of the state, such as her hometown, there is more support of the Bush campaign.

Seth Boffeli, communications director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, agreed the display of anti-Bush messages on State Street reflects the political views in the area.

"I think this is a community that will be stronger in the support of Kerry than other parts of the state," Boffeli said.

Schober said anti-Bush feelings on campus can sometimes go too far because the University of Wisconsin claims to be open minded and diverse but when it comes to politics, there is often little room for a diversity of viewpoints.

Schober added the Kerry campaign has used a lot of negative messages about Bush because many Kerry supporters follow the slogan "Anybody but Bush" more than they actually think Kerry would be a better president for their views.

"I have yet to meet anybody who is enthusiastic about supporting Kerry," Schober said.

Boffeli said it was actually the Bush campaign that was too negative, spending more than $100 million on negative advertising against Kerry, a record number for an incumbent.

Incumbents normally advertise about the strength of their records, but Bush did not have a strong record to rely on and was therefore forced to go negative in his campaign, according to Boffeli.

Schober said in the end, she thinks UW students will look at the facts when deciding how they vote and will not base their decisions on negative campaigning.

"I have a lot of faith in the students on campus," said Schober.