Presidential Election of 2008

The US Presidential Election of 2008 was one of the most exciting elections in modern history. With no incumbent President or Vice President both parties ran extensive primaires. The Democrats nominated Senator Barack Obama and the Republicans Senator John McCain. Senator Obama won becoming the first African American president of the United States

Senator Barack Obama

Senator John McCain November 4, 2008 Barack Obama Wins a Decisive Victory

Obama wins 52% of the vote to McCain's 48%. Obama wins over 349 electoral votes. Four states undecided the morning after!

Senator Barack Obama won the 2008 Presidential Election. His victory came at the end of the longest and most interesting election in American History. This Presidential election began as the first election in 50 years, in which there was no incumbent President or Vice President from either party competing for the Presidential nomination. The absence of any incumbent encouraged a large number of candidates from both parties to run. On the Democratic side, the early assumptions were that Senator Hilary Clinton, wife of the former President Bill Clinton, was the favorite to garner her party's nomination. She entered the Presidential primary race with the highest name recognition of any candidate and an established political organization she had inherited partially from her husband, as well as built on her own. A large number of other Democrats announced their intentions to run, most were senators. One of the Senators was Barack Obama, a freshman Senator from Illinois. Obama was an African- American who come to national attention when he gave the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He was the only African American Senator. He was also the only candidate that had been on record opposing the war in Iraq, prior to its beginning. This was a strong draw among a Democratic primary electorate that was strongly against the war.

Obama won the first primary election battle, the Iowa caucus. Senator Clinton revived her campaign with a comeback victory in New Hampshire. The two battled in repeated primary states, with Obama making an important strategic decision to compete heavily in many of the smaller caucus states; states that almost never voted for a Democrat in a general election, but provided him with a significant lead in delegate count just the same. The Democrats appointed delegates proportionally and thus, despite the fact that Clinton won many of the later primary contests in the biggest states she was unable to catch Obama's delegate lead. In addition, Obama had a superior fundraising operation that successfully used the Internet to build a large base of small donors.

The early Republican front-runner had been Senator McCain. However, in the summer of 2007, his primary campaign nearly fell apart and McCain was forced to retrench and begin again. The early leader in the polls was the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, who had high name recognition, due to his stewardship of the city during 9/11. Many questioned whether Giuliani, who was relatively liberal on social issues, could be nominated in the Republican primaries. Guiliani decided not to compete in the early caucuses and primaries. Governor Huckabee, a self-defined evangelical, won the Iowa caucus. Though Senator McCain won the New Hampshire primary, where he had placed much of his effort. He then went on to win theNorth Carolina primary, the state that his 2000 efforts against George W. Bush hit a wall. By the time McCain arrived in Florida, he had momentum and the endorsement of the popular Florida governor. McCain handily won the Florida primary. The Republican rule of winner takes all allowed McCain to swiftly build an insurmountable lead in delegates and he clinched the nomination.

Once both nominees had clinched their party's nominations, Senator McCain suggested that he and Senator Obama jointly conduct 10 town hall meetings throughout the US. The Barack campaign deflected the invitation.

Both major parties held their conventions late, with the Democrats holding their convention in last August and the Republicans in early September. Both parties wanted to hold their elections as late as possible, so they would not be limited in spending if they accepted public finance. Senator Obama became the first major candidate not to accept pubic finance since the campaign finance laws were first passed.

Senator Obama selected Senator Joe Biden of Delaware to be his running mate. The choice of Biden was well received. The Democratic convention was considered a success by all observers. At the conclusion of the Democratic convention Senator McCain announced his running mate. That selection was Alaskan Governor, Sarah Pallin. Choicing Pallin was successful in that it generated enthusiasm with the Republican base; something that McCain had not been able to do. Others questioned whether she had the experience to be President and this blunted much of the attack on Obama centered on his lack of experience.

Coming out of the two conventions, most observers believed the Presidential race was close. In mid-September the United States and much of the rest of the world experienced a severe financial crisis that required rapid government intervention. Obama's response to the crisis was considered by many better than McCain's response. That response put Obama ahead in the polls. The economic crisis, which had been building for over a year, with a record number of Americans losing their homes, made it nearly impossible for McCain to win. Going into the election campaign it was thought that one of Obama's advantages would be his opposition to the war in Iraq, but thanks to a surge of troops that McCain advocated, clear progress was taking place in Iraq. This did not work to McCain's advantage. Instead, it took the issue off the table. In the end it was economic issues that dominated the election.

Obama also benefited from his decision not to take public finances. He raised record sums of money and was able to out spend McCain nearly three to one. Finally, the Obama campaign was the first one that was truly successful in bringing out the youth vote.

Obama won a decisive victory, winning all of the swing states. He further won states that had not been won by a democrat in a generation, such as Virginia and Indiana.