WHEN UNITED STATES President George W. Bush took office in January 2001, Americans thought they knew what they were getting - a conservative Methodist who had not been the best of scholars, but whose political pedigree should see the nation right.
There were a few snide remarks about his public-speaking abilities and with his governorship of Texas came a cowboyish persona that belied his East Coast roots. The nickname Dubya seemed to say it all - down-home and honest-to-God.
More than halfway into his presidential term and with campaigning for a second term under way, the nation has realised George W. Bush is not like his father. Instead, increasing numbers of political commentators are saying Americans are living the third term of Ronald Reagan.
From rhetoric to style, the comparisons are compelling. Increasingly similar are circumstances now and during the 1980s - a stagnant economy, a rising deficit, rising unemployment, unstable stock markets and a potent enemy.
In Mr Reagan's case it was cold war rival the Soviet Union, his so-called 'empire of evil'. For Mr Bush it is terrorism and the nations who allegedly sponsor it, his 'axis of evil'.
To complete the picture, Mr Bush has even surrounded himself with Reagan-era stalwarts like Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.