Dear FRONTLINE,

I was very impressed by the whole tone of the show. One could tell you took great pains to be fair and unbiased in your reporting of the facts.

It showed both men as they were then and as they are now, and not what the "spinmeisters" have made them out to be. Now all we have to do is use that information and VOTE!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, PBS!

Kae Robbins
Crossivlle, TN

Dear FRONTLINE,

Viewers who accuse you of being biased against President Bush should, in fact, be thanking you. After all, there was no mention of the president's long-standing connections with the Saudi royal family, the president's inaction despite warnings about a possible terrorist attack, the president's behavior when he learned we were under attack, the president's 'mistaken' insistance that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the president's launching a war against a country that did not threaten us, unemployment-deficit-and-poverty statistics during his first term, the number of Americans who have lost health insurance during his tenure, his disturbing environmental record, his inability to think of anything he has done as president that could be viewed as a mistake, his professed lack of interest in reading books and newspapers, his many verbal gaffes, his insistance to this day that he wouldn't change a thing about our involvement in Iraq--despite government reports that there were no WMDs.....shall I go on?

D. Ellen
St. Louis, MO

Dear FRONTLINE,

Congratulations! You have solidified my decision to stop funding public broadcasting. It is and has been a sham for many years and should be held accountable just as any other network with an agenda. You have done a great service by finally showing your colors so blatantly in the supposedly educational, unbiased story about election 2004.

Kathryn Feeney
Phoenix, AZ

Dear FRONTLINE,

I can certainly see why strong Bush supporters would be angry with this documentary. I personally support Kerry but at the end of the show I couldn't help but feel that Kerry was shown in a better light.

That being said, I don't believe that there was any misinformation or factual distortions. Facts are facts and this documentary was only one of many pieces of information I have used to cast my vote. Sadly, much of the info that passes our senses these days has to be taken with a grain of salt.

I do believe however that this was one of the most informative compilations I have seen in quite some time. kudos.

Washington, DC

Dear FRONTLINE,

I was literally glued to my television set during your incomparable "The Choice 2004" program. I commend you for a fascinating and insightful look at BOTH candidates.

The program's technique of continually moving between the biographies of both men was particularly effective. Although George Bush often suffered from the comparison, I believe that is simply due to the less-than-stellar facts of his life story, especially before his "conversion" at age 40 to a more disciplined way of life.

I don't understand the many criticisms posted here that Bush supporters were not allowed to speak on his behalf. Each candidate's friends, family and professional colleagues were given equal opportunity to discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Each had detractors who were also allowed to speak. This approach continually created a far more balanced view than we commonly get from most other media outlets these days. I saw a George Bush who was quite likable and personally strong. I saw a John Kerry who overthinks the issues and tends toward a "bureacrat" mindset.

My only criticism is that a lot of the program's "analysis" came only from your Frontline reporter, in whom I detected a Kerry bias. I believe this weakened what could have been the finest show yet produced on this crazy election to one that was merely excellent.

K E Lockhart
Richmond, Virginia

Dear FRONTLINE,

After watching your bias report favoring Senator Kerry over President Bush, we now totally support the showing of "Stolen Honor" by the Sinclair network. Your hatchet-job is reminicent of the type of trash produced by Michael Moore and Dan Rather.

Our tax dollars should not be used to fund a political Advertisement for Kerry.

Ed & Janet Newman
Flushing, MI

Dear FRONTLINE,

did i imagine it, or did frontline actually play footage of kerry in 2002 giving a cogent explanation of his vote to authorize force if we worked with the UN and iraq didn't let inspectors in?

looks like he hasn't "flip-flopped" after all, and--as others have said before me--the truth will out, and the facts have an anti-bush agenda.

if bush wanted the votes of people who are paying attention, he shouldn't have misrepresented his opponent's position.

i'm really disappointed that my fellow republicans have become such knee-jerk reactionaries that they can't see the truth. as for the two who said they'll no longer "tithe" PBS, i think it highly unlikely either one ever gave a tenth of his income or looked up "tithe" in a dictionary.

david nova
glenside, pa

Dear FRONTLINE,

This is the best show I've seen (including films) on the public background of the two presidential candidates. The differences between the two candidates are now more apparent than ever. I'm now able to cast my vote with much greater confidence in my selection and understanding of the implications involved.

Keep up the excellant work (Please)!

Bruce P.
Irvine, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I thought "The Choice 2004" was great. Being in a liberal stronghold city, and being pretty out there to the left myself I find it difficult sometimes to even put together a coherent picture of the opposing view. Your presentation of the two angles was really quite helpful. I can see a consistent and even benevolent theory to support the Bush angle, even though I disagree with the assumptions it's based upon and outright object to the methods implemented by his campaign team.

I too balked at some of the statements made in the presentation, about who has greater "ambition" for example. Only because I fear the misuse of the statement out of context. Presentation of political figures is so widely composed of three to five word sound bites and vacuous slogans, it's hard not to cringe at a line that gives opening to that kind of misuse.

D Bull
Seattle, WA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I have found myself reaching for my checkbook at times after viewing programs like "Ghosts of Rwanda" to support you and then you run something like this, which confirms your agenda and slant. You had the opportunity to provide a fair and balanced view of a historic event/time as opposed to all of the shrieking going on everywhere else and you blew it. Judging from the responses to the program, I am in good company.

Wilbur Holloway
Gainesville, Fl.

Dear FRONTLINE,

I think your show did a fair job in portraying both men as they made the paths to their current positions in our government. From their days at Yale to their roles as President and Senator, both men were accurately described. But I find it quite amazing that so many viewers are so dissatisfied with the way George Bush was portrayed. If he was portrayed as an underachiever, it is only that he was. Any objective parsing of his life would reveal that he received many special favors from friends and colleagues of his family.

It seems to me that America has been so inured of the media's kid-gloves handling of George W. Bush and his policies that, when a mainstream program finally dares to tell it like it is, it is criticized for having a liberal bias. Bush has gotten off the hook so many times by the media that, if anything, there is a conservative bias at work here.

How else to explain why Bush, who requested not to be sent overseas during the Vietnam War, never has had to account for his words when he criticized both John Kerry and John McCain, both of whom served in Vietnam, for being unpatriotic?

Phuong Tran
Portsmouth, NH

Dear FRONTLINE,

The views need to understand that creating a unbiased report of the candidates is an extremely difficult task in any medium, especially in a documentary. That said, I personally think The Choice 2004 was enlightening.

What came out of the program for me is how obviously divergent these candidates are and how their election will take our countries on two very different paths.

I am also struck by what Americans are drawn to for a President. Bush seems warm, personable and people are drawn to him...but what's behind the smile and goofy candor? What is the basis for his principles and how he makes his decisions? Do they represent the values of all Americans?

Kerry is admittedly not easy for the average voter to warm up to...but his entire life trajectory (as portrayed on the show) seems to be one based of principle (even when it seems unpopular), serious consideration, and prudence. I think we need this now more than ever.

The real question in November will be what the American voter views as the ideal candidate for the presidency. I hope and pray they'll be able to see through the deceptions and lies to really get to understand the candidates.

Appreciate it!

Thao Doan
Sacramento, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I homeschool my childrenand was going to use this so called biography of the 2 candidates as part of our lessons since we are currently working on presidential elections. After approximately 30 minutes of viewing the program, we all 3 realized what was going on. This was not a balanced portrayal of the 2 candidates at all! It was extremely one way. It was so transparent, my children even commented on it & no longer wanted to watch the program. I wanted to use this as a learning tool, to weigh what both candidates had to offer, but your program made that impossible to do.

I understand PBS relies heavily on donations. You might want to consider making a few changes prior to re-airing the program if you want to continue receiving donations.

E W
Orlando, Florida

Dear FRONTLINE,

is it possible that the harshness or the reality that seems so heavily biased is not the way the producers presented the story, but rather the way in which the candidates chose to lead their lives leading up to their career in politics? (i.e. Kerry running for congress, senate and leading the VVAW, whereas Bush dropped out of the Air National Guard, ran failing oil businesses, and was a partner in a professional baseball team.)

The facts of their lives are self-evident. Common sense and the information at hand that is undeniable is more than enough to make one see that there is a severe stratification in qualifications amongst these two candidates. I do not feel that it was the reporting that leads to the appearance of bias in this particular news program. I believe just the facts alone are enough to do that.

Aaron Frey
Bethel, OH

Dear FRONTLINE,

I think FRONTLINE did a very good job of discussing the character of George Bush and John Kerry in The Choice 2004. Discussing a person's character is inherently subjective, but your use of archival footage and close asscociates revealed insights into each candidate. FRONTLINE is one of the few remaining outlets of serious journalism.

I don't think that the program was entirely flattering to either candidate, but that is not your job.

Ed Brown
San Jose, CA