Election Blog by SLAGATHOR!!!!!!!!

The presidential election of 2008 has been one for the ages, and as it draws to its close it is apparent that it will make history. On the left side there is Barack Obama, a young Senator from Illinois who shook the nation as the first potential African-American President of the United States. On the right there is McCain, an experience veteran that thrives on his maverick views and styles. This campaign has been characterized by a thought of turning a new leaf and beginning anew, and with Obama’s tagline of “Hope”, “Change”, and “Yes We Can” it seems like that it is likely to happen soon.
This election is historic, for it contains many factors that have never been seen by the American public. It is the first time an African-American has been on the ticket for a major political party. It is also the first time that a woman has had a good chance to become president or vice-president of the United States of America. Both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin achieved this. When Clinton lost the primary the possibility for a female president was lost of the time being, but Sarah Palin still had a chance to become the first female vice president and, if anything happened to McCain, the President. Both would be a major step forward in respects to gender and race. Also, John McCain would be the oldest first term President in the history of the United States, and Barack Obama’s running mate Joe Biden is now the first Roman Catholic to be Vice President. Lastly, it is the first time that both of the Presidential candidates were both born outside of the continental United States. Obama was born in Hawaii and McCain in the Panama Canal Zone. This campaign is one of the most interesting campaign in recent years because it comes in a pivotal time in American history. Many, rather most Americans are displeased with the Bush Administration (his approval rating averages in at about 31%), and the new presidential candidates in the election are sure to present the nation with a new outlook on the future of America.
But Obama’s rise to the White House has been a long and hard road. The public has had their eye on Obama for the last two years as a potential candidate for President, and he made it a possibility when he announced his candidacy on February 10th, 2007. This made him one of the major candidates for the White House, along with Hilary Clinton. These two represented the candidates for the Democratic Party and John McCain was the candidate for the Republican Party. The Presidential Primaries for the Democrats was marked by a neck-to-neck race between Obama and Clinton. Even on Super Tuesday it was a virtual tie between the two, with 847 for Obama and 834 for Clinton. This set the tone for the whole primary, for it was an extremely close election and ended with Obama taking a lead in the polls towards the end of the primary season. As for McCain, it seemed that he was the only major candidate running for his party and he easily won the primary to become the Republican Party’s presidential candidate. The primary was a historic one because it was a win win situation when it came to electing a never before seen candidate. Barack Obama would be the first African American candidate and Hilary Clinton would be the first woman with an actual chance of wining. The race was also full of heated battles within the Democratic Party. On many occasions Obama and Clinton clashed and questioned each other about their policies. The battles became very heated between the two and it was thought that the fighting was doing more damage then good as it was dividing the party at a time when it needed to come together and run against the Republican Party and John McCain.
With the two presidential candidates for the major parties picked a long and drawn out campaign began. This campaign was characterized by an aggressive fundraising attempt by Obama, a series of attacks by McCain, the selection of Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate, and the rescission of the stock market in mid September. These events made the election one of discontent with the current Bush Administration and shows a yearn by the American public for a new president that will hopefully lead them out of these dark times. It also cast John McCain and the Republican Party in a bad light because of their close relationship with President Bush and his Administration. The people are tired of Bush, and McCain just being of the same party as him surly hurt him in the race. But throughout the campaign McCain continually tried to set himself apart from Bush, using the tag line of being a “maverick” to describe himself. Senator Obama countered this quality by bringing up the fact that McCain went along with Bush’s decisions 95% of the time. Obama also got another break by having been attack by Hilary during the primary elections. It was here that he was able to address his relationship with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and his new policies. By the time the Presidential elections had rolled around, the American public had already heard the attacks on Obama, so they were less responsive to it when McCain tried to bring them up. It seems that the fighting between Hilary and Obama in fact helped him in the end to be more hardened and prepared for the face off with McCain.
Obama also used his obvious technological edge over McCain to gain huge funds towards his cause. In the end, he had almost a two to one lead over McCain, and this enabled him to put forth an oppressive media campaign that help spread his message and drown out McCain’s. He was also able to have a 30-minuet infomercial that rallied his supporters and explained his policies.
McCain also made the situation worse for himself by selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate. The move was made with the effort to win over the conservative side of the vote, but also effectively alienated the left side of the vote that was thinking of supporting him. McCain made this selection because up until then he was a was walking the line with the Republican Party and it seemed he needed something to put himself back into their good graces.
Now the election is over and it is clear that Obama is the winner. It was predicted that the race would be extremely close, and from the look of the popular vote it was. At 12:49 a.m. Mountain Time about 87% of the vote has been counted and so far it appears that 47% went to McCain and 52% went to Obama. But this number does not really matter. What really matters in the number of electoral votes that each candidate receives. In order to win the presidency a candidate must win at least 270 of the electoral votes. So far, Obama has won 338 and McCain 163. This is a wide margin compared to the past to Presidential elections, in which President Bush one by just 271 the first time, and 286 the second.
With the election done and Barack Obama to be our new President the future remains unclear. Those opposed to his presidency fear that the change that Obama promotes will hurt the country more then help it. His supporters thrive on his vision of a new America and have faith that the future holds great things. One can be sure about one fact though. The race to the White House has been a historical one that showed that American was capable of electing a variety of different people from diverse backgrounds. This goes to show that the diversity that has been a characteristic of the United States of America since the beginning is still there, and it has begun to break the chains that have held it down for so long. It is now apparent that the White House is not just reserved for the rich white man, but also the rich black man.