US may vote for best man to stop another 9/11
It was on that blue-sky morning, when millions watched on live TV as the towers collapsed, that the US decided terrorism was no longer a crime, it was an act of war.
Since then US forces have invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban, which sheltered al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
Iraq has been crushed in a bid to stop Saddam Hussein developing and sharing weapons of mass destruction with terrorists at least that's the claim from London and Washington which has prompted scepticism the world over.
Libya has turned over its weapons programmes to international inspectors, and Pakistan has become a key ally of the West.
September 11 has become a key presidential election issue.
Aside from the usual issues of low taxes and healthcare, Americans want to know that the man they elect, or re-elect, in November will do all in his power to prevent another September 11, and the loss of thousands of more lives.
People across America will mourn the more than 3,000 who died when airliners were crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, with this in mind.
Step forward Senator John Kerry, who is fighting President George W Bush for the White House in the November 2 poll. A Vietnam war hero, he has made much of his military past.
He stepped on stage at his Democratic Party convention in July with a salute, telling America he was "reporting for duty".
The message could not be more clear: You need me in these times, and I am here to save you.
Sometimes he sounded more to the right than the right, promising to increase the size of the military and expand special forces units. "I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as president," he said.
His running mate, Senator John Edwards from North Carolina, sounded even tougher with "one clear message for al-Qaida: You cannot run, you cannot hide, we will destroy you".
But while the two senators had to reassure middle America they would be tough on terror, they also had to appeal to the party faithful, many of who were against the Iraq war.
"I will be a commander-in-chief who will never mislead us into war," Mr Kerry said.
Here the Republicans seized on the Democrats and launched a campaign to sow seeds of doubt about Mr Kerry's willingness to use the military to protect America.
The Republicans held their convention last week just a few miles from Ground Zero, where days after the attacks Mr Bush stood in the rubble of the twin towers, seized a bullhorn, and vowed: "The people who knocked down these buildings will hear from all of us."
The stirring moment is still largely considered the high point of his presidency. During the convention, wave after wave of attacks were launched on Mr Kerry's military clout.
The stage was set for Mr Bush to tell a prime-time TV audience that, as commander-in-chief for four more years, he would protect America.
It was a convention heavy in references to September 11. "Three days after September 11, I stood where Americans died, in the ruins of the twin towers," Mr Bush said.
"Since that day I wake up thinking how to better protect our country. We are staying on the offensive striking terrorists abroad so we don't have to face them here at home."
Then Vice-President Dick Cheney put the icing on the cake with a campaign speech earlier this week.
He appeared to say a vote for Mr Kerry was a vote for more terrorist attacks on the homeland.
"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2, we make the right choice. Because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is we'll get hit again, and we'll be hit in a way devastating from the standpoint of the US."
Many Americans will mourn their dead today, mindful of the fact they soon have to choose which man will best protect them from suffering such an outrage again.
