I Love the 2000s...Part 9

It what was one of the most anticipated elections and election cycles in some time; the results and the process certainly gave us probably more than we thought we would see. The Democrats had a serious African American candidate as well as a very legit female candidate amongst their field. The Republicans had a deep field of candidates early on as the party had to choose a replacement to President Bush. The twists and turns and end result was definitely one of the biggest events of the decade.

#2: 2008 Presidential Election

Entering 2008, President Bush was in his last year in office and his policies and political actions along with a sense of a new direction were all key talking points of the campaigns and upcoming election. Domestic policies especially the economy became the major focal point of platforms. President Bush and the Republican Party skated by in 2004 and by 2008; they had lost both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to the Democrats. After having a high of around 90% approval rating around the time of 9/11; a high favorability and approval ratings would continue to fall through the decade due to an unpopular war in Iraq and other disliked decisions.

As 2008 neared, several candidates began to emerge as possible individuals to replace President Bush. On the Democratic side, the field included Senator Barack Obama, Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator John Edwards, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Senator Joe Biden, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Senator Chris Dodd, Senator Evan Bayh, former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, and former Senator Mike Gravel. Senators Obama and Clinton emerged as the most viable and popular candidates with Edwards in the shuffle. Former Vice President Al Gore and the Democratic candidate, John Kerry, of 2004 were also rumored to be potential candidates for the party’s nomination. Going into 2008, it seemed that Hillary Clinton had emerged with a slight lead.

Iowa proved to be a crucial caucus as Obama won, but New Hampshire a week later was a Clinton victory and would set the trend for much of the Democratic primaries. Candidates would slowly drop out after early primary losses. Florida and Michigan; wanting to gain more national attention; moved their primaries up and thus created a lengthy drawn out process for their delegates and the results of which. Both were victories for Clinton and would prove very important down the stretch. Obama’s victory was a bit of a surprise to some, especially those in the Clinton camp who were hoping to wrap up the nomination around the same time that John Kerry did four years early. As Super Tuesday neared, John Edwards saw his candidacy slipping away and thus suspended his campaign leaving Obama and Clinton to battle it out. On February 5, 2008 or Super Tuesday, 23 states held primaries with both Democratic candidates ending the evening in a virtual tie. Obama won more states, but Clinton won bigger states like California and New York.

Following Super Tuesday, Obama would win the next ten primaries that included various states including a “Beltway Sweep” that included Washington, DC. Clinton countered in early March with primary victories in Ohio and Texas with Obama winning the Texas caucus. The next month in another big primary; Pennsylvania; Clinton fired back with another big win. Obama had more delegates, but Clinton had a slight superdelegate lead. In early May, the two would split the next two primaries; Clinton winning Indiana and Obama winning North Carolina. At the end of May, the Florida and Michigan delegate questions were solved with a resolution that each delegate would be seated at the convention with only a half vote. After the final primary on June 3rd, Obama had almost enough delegates to win the party’s nomination and several superdelegates switched from Clinton to Obama and that finally put him over the edge. He was the first African American major party candidate. Clinton held out hope for a few days before finally conceding and endorsing Obama on June 7th. The two gave us one of the most spirited primary battles ever.

On the Republican side, things did not draw out as long, but certainly had a fair share of moments. With President Bush not running due to term limits and Vice President Cheney not running per his own choice; the Republican field was very open with Senator John McCain and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney emerging as leading candidates. Also contending were former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, Congressman Ron Paul, and former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson. In Iowa, Huckabee launched himself into a great position with a big caucus victory, but that victory would be first and last major one as he put a lot of resources into Iowa. McCain finished well and would use the rest of the month to position himself for a run at the nomination. Giuliani put his fortunes in Florida and when McCain won the primary there it deflated Giuliani’s campaign greatly and he would soon concede his run. On Super Tuesday for the Republicans, it was equally as down the middle as the Democratic side with McCain getting the most states and delegates with Romney and Huckabee get a fair share of the states and delegates. Not garnering enough states and delegates made Romney choose to step aside. He wanted to ensure that the Republicans could gain a nominee before the Democrats and target the opposition party instead of each other.

Moving forward into March, McCain was emerging as the lead candidate with Huckabee and Paul as the only opposition. McCain picked up several primary victories with Huckabee getting a couple wins after Super Tuesday. McCain won the four primaries in March including Texas and Ohio to secure the nomination. Huckabee would concede with Paul hanging on despite having no chance of winning the nomination.

The Democrats would hold their party convention in Denver, Colorado from August 25th to August 28th while the Republicans would gather for their convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota from September 1st to September 4th. After much discussion and deliberation of what would happen, Senator Obama was officially nominated as the candidate of the Democratic Party for President and he would choose Senator Biden as his running mate. On the Republican side, there wasn’t so much speculation as Senator McCain was nominated as expected to be the candidate of the Republican Party and in a surprise move by many he selected Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska to be his running mate.

As the campaign became party versus party during the summer and into the fall, Obama would link McCain to Bush and his policies and thus his unpopularity. Additionally, a lot of the campaign revolved around change and the type of change Obama would bring versus the experience of McCain that had proved costly in the years leading up to the 2008 election. McCain would garner his experience as a characteristic worth voting for him over Obama, but at the election neared he would then try to use his maverick style of voting and leading as a way to constitute his version of change that he would bring. During the primaries, Obama was seen as the “change” candidate against the “establishment” candidate in Clinton. McCain’s running mate, Palin, was also a new face on the national stage and was not very tested. She was a bit of change and a possible face for former Clinton supporters (mostly women) to look to. However, Palin did not seem to grasp certain issues that would be crucial as the second in command. The top issue for the election revolved around the growing recession and the current state of the economy. McCain made a couple tactical errors that distanced him from the common man struggling and even used the economy as a political chip to stall debates so that Senator Obama and himself could return to the Senate to work on a bailout bill.

After months of primaries, speeches, debates, and mudslinging; Barack Obama defeated John McCain to become the 44th President of the United States. Obama was able to change 9 states to blue that were red in 2004 and gave Obama a large victory within the Electoral College. In the end, Obama picked up 365 electoral votes to McCain’s 173. With the victory, Obama became the first African American to be elected President. Making this election a little more unique was the fact that Obama became only the third sitting U.S. Senator after Warren Harding and John F. Kennedy to be elected and 2008 was the first election since 1952 to not feature an incumbent president or vice president running. Lastly, it was the second time and first for the Republican Party that there was a female Vice Presidential candidate. Voter turnout was the highest since the late 1960s as a large young crowd and many previous non-voters turned out as both candidates especially Obama’s mobilized the masses. Obama’s campaign tapped into reaching out to all states and getting many non-voters and occasional voters to become passionate about the upcoming election. His campaign team put together one of the most overreaching and effective campaigns we have probably seen. Not to outdone, several other candidates utilized the pluses of campaigning in the 21st century: the internet. Videos and websites allowed extra avenues for the candidates more than ever.

Moving forward, in future elections the use of grassroots movements and mobilizing voters will be key especially in 2010 as both parties will wrestle for control in the wake of this historic election. Obama was able to key into minorities, young people, and independents; three voting blocs that are the ultimate variable in an election. More of each group registered and voted in 2008 and that also adds to the importance of the 2008 presidential election. As someone who is part of one of those groups (the young demographic); this election was probably the first that I was completely engaged in. I campaigned, voted, and followed proceedings closely from Iowa to Election Day. I remember taking to the streets as a sense of a new beginning had just occurred and I walked around my campus and the proceeding area into the late night. There are few moments that have defined by generation and this certainly will be one of them. Obama was able to change several states from Republican to Democrat while many of the polarizing trends continued in terms of voting demographics for party candidates.

Without a doubt, this event will stand the test of time as a groundbreaking event and certainly was one of the most eventful stories of the 2000s. However, despite the impact that election left; there was still one event that ranks higher and will probably be remembered for as long if not longer than this historic election. That event and story: September 11th, 2001.