Saddam Hussein's capture injected a dramatic new twist into the 2004 White House race by bringing Mr Bush more good news and complicating the message of his Democratic rivals.
With the US economy on the upswing and now the former Iraqi dictator in jail, the nine Democrats vying for the right to challenge Mr Bush next year are once again having to refine their arguments for replacing him.
The most immediate effects, analysts said, would be a boost in the polls for Mr Bush, vindication for the four candidates who voted to allow Mr Bush to go to war in Iraq and short-term trouble for the front-running Mr Howard Dean whose campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is built around his fervent opposition to the US-led invasion.
Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, who along with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, Republican Richard Gephardt of Missouri and Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, voted for the war resolution passed by the US Congress, pounced on Saddam's capture to attack Mr Dean.
"This news makes clear the choice the Democrats face next year," Mr Lieberman said. "If Howard Dean had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today, not in prison, and the world would be a much more dangerous place."
Mr Bush, whose approval ratings have been hard hit by the escalating violence, should get a quick boost, said Ms Jennifer Duffy, an analyst for the Cook Report, a nonpartisan political newsletter.
"More important is whether it sticks," she said. "Or is this going to be a temporary blip?" The general election is 11 months away.
But the battle among the Democrats for their party's nomination begins in earnest with the Iowa caucuses on January 19th and Saddam's arrest could be used to slow Mr Dean's momentum. The former governor of Vermont was scheduled to give a major foreign policy address in Los Angeles today.