Well, to be fair there wasn't a major terror trial in 2004, but I think the announcement in late October 2004 (see timeline ) that the government was setting a trial date for Moussaoui might have been aimed for impact at any minor presidential contests being held in early November 2004.
Moussaoui pled guilty before the trial could begin, but the penalty phase started in late 2005 and was held mostly during 2006. How's that for affecting two elections with one trial?
Now they finally get around to announcing trials for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five others which were not named in the Reuters report, but rest assured the government has plenty of torture extracted evidence on them too.
I guess they have to have something to distract Americans from the fact that John McCain has morphed into George Bush (without the personality) during to the last 8 years, which is why the Republican money people love him.
See Reuters report "Pentagon seeks death penalty for alleged 9/11 planner " and Chicago Tribune report at Seattle PI "9/11 charges to test military legal system " for more, including how Guantanamo prisoners are served Starbucks coffee and the names of the other detainees involved. Also in the PI article: The Bush administration claims that a new clean team was used to re-extract the torture derived evidence using accepted methods. Sure, sure.