Neither can claim to be “the man from Hope,” but for presidential contenders George Bush and John Kerry, the race is on to see who can convince voters the cup is half-full.

At the time, Bill Clinton’s slogan-worthy Arkansas birthplace came to symbolize his successful and decidedly upbeat 1992 campaign against the first President Bush.

Today, through a steady stream of news releases and television advertising – readily available throughout Maine – Bush and Kerry have each proclaimed themselves the most “optimistic,” a trait attributed to virtually every presidential victor in modern times.

It is a treasured political quality rooted in the deepest levels of American culture, according to University of Maine political scientist Richard Powell.

“I think Americans by nature are future-oriented, and they want to see a candidate who will talk about the good things to come,” said Powell, author of several journal articles on presidential communications.

But Powell warned that a candidate who lays claim to the rosiest colored glasses must do so at his own peril.

“The key is to display the qualities of optimism without saying you’re optimistic,” Powell said. “It’s less effective [to say you are optimistic] and voters, by and large, see through those things.”

Powell explained that there has to be substance behind the sunny forecast. The challenge, he said, is for a candidate to criticize his opponent’s policies, but convince voters he has his own positive direction for the country.

Earlier this month the Kerry campaign released its ad, “Optimists,” proclaiming America a “country of optimists” and its citizens the “can-do people.”

Three days later, the Bush campaign rolled out “Pessimism,” in which the president declared himself “optimistic about America” and warned that Kerry’s “pessimism never created a job.”

But it was the death of former President Ronald Reagan that sparked a flurry of optimism references – most of which were reserved for the popular Republican whose “It’s morning again in America” campaign will go down as among the most effective in history, pundits say.

After a week of little to no campaign activity in deference to Reagan, Bush’s Web site – shrouded in black in Reagan’s memory – turned decidedly upbeat, featuring the slogan “Yes, America Can!”

Days later, the Kerry campaign sent out a press release titled “Americans are too optimistic to settle for George Bush’s economic performance.”

It’s no surprise the presidential hopefuls are vying for the title as the most positive, Powell said.

Being labeled a pessimist can poke a hole in the mightiest campaign, as evidenced by the demise of former Democratic front-runner Howard Dean, whom Republicans publicly dubbed “the man from Hate” for his sometimes visible disdain for the Bush administration.

Despite its undeniable impact on a campaign, all the optimism has University of Maine political scientist Amy Fried a bit down.

“The point of being president is having a practical understanding of the issues. It’s not about optimism or pessimism,” she said. “It shows the extent to which political messages focus on the personality and not policy.”