In his opening statement to the press, Mr Paxon outlined the issues on which he believes the election will be fought; these are clearly the war on terrorism, with particular reference to Iraq, and the economy. He insisted that the campaign has begun much earlier than usual with President Bush already campaigning hard in several states. Mr Paxon also referred to the McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform legislation, in which control over donations to candidates has come into effect, and which opined that this time, almost 90 per cent of likely voters have already made up their mind. He added that there are only around 20 states in which there will be a close contest with the rest not in play for the election. Concluding, Mr Paxon said he believed that President Bush will comfortably win with a good margin although the result could be quite close.

The Malta Independent on Sunday asked Mr Paxon what impact the recent redistricting of states will have on the election result. Mr Paxon said this was quite an important issue as the process had added around seven electoral votes to Republican-leaning states while the Democrats lost a similar amount in theirs. He acknowledged that the President goes into the election with an advantage of around 12 electoral votes which is quite a large boost in a close state fight and the Democrats are quite hampered in this respect. Asked about the impact of the war in Iraq on likely voters, Mr Paxon said that anything could happen after the 30 June handover of power. The signs were that the President was at a low point in his ratings and showed him tied with Senator John Kerry in the polls. The Malta Independent on Sunday also asked Mr Paxon on the anomaly in American politics where Republican governors head Democratic states and vice versa. Mr Paxon responded that the overwhelming majority of states were headed by Republican governors (around 30) and that American voters also enjoy changing their legislators for the sake of diversity. Commenting on the possibility of cross voting, Mr Paxon said that although some did occur, a large majority of voters do stick to either the Republican or Democratic ticket, voting for the Presidential, Senatorial and House candidates of their respective parties.

The discussion then turned to the possible Vice Presidential candidate for the Democrats. Mr Paxon mentioned three contenders, Evan Bye from Indiana, Dick Gephardt from Missouri and John Edwards from North Carolina. When asked on the possibility of John Edwards influencing the Democratic ticket due to his southern origins, Mr Paxon replied that he believed that President Bush would comfortably carry all the 11 southern states adding that former Democratic candidate, Al Gore, was from Tennessee and had not carried his own state.

The Malta Independent on Sunday also asked Mr Paxon’s opinion with regard to Ralph Nader’s candidacy, he said he was “not unhappy that Ralph Nader’s running”, clearly indicating that the independent candidate would siphon off crucial votes from the Democrats in those battleground states. Concluding, the former Congressman said he was confident that President Bush would easily carry the election although once again maintaining that it could be a close call.