When was the 08 election

Of all the contenders for the Republican nomination, McCain undoubtedly was the one who had the best chance of victory. Second, the Democratic nomination contest proved to be a long and highly competitive battle between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. While Obama prevailed, he did so only after what many regarded as a very divisive fight. A substantial number of Clinton supporters, especially women, seemed unhappy with the outcome and reluctant to fully support Obama.

Moreover, Obama had potential vulnerabilities. He was a very inexperienced presidential candidate, having served only four years in the U. Senate, and Republicans hoped to use that inexperience against him, especially when compared with the lengthy record of public service that McCain possessed.

Also, there was speculation that some segments of the Democratic coalition, such as rural white working-class voters, would be reluctant to vote for a black presidential candidate. As the presidential campaign unfolded, a number of developments led to Obama's clear victory: McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, while initially very popular, proved to be a poor choice, as she demonstrated a lack of understanding of issues in her media interviews.

Obama's vice-presidential choice, Senator Joe Biden, was a much sounder selection. The collapse of the nation's financial system in September focused attention on economic matters, which clearly advantaged Obama.

McCain would have preferred for foreign policy and national security issues to have dominated the campaign. Obama performed quite well in the three presidential debates and during the campaign as a whole, well enough to erase many of the doubts about his ability to handle the job of president.

While McCain attempted to separate himself from Bush, the Obama campaign did its best to link them as tightly as possible. They even were able to use McCain's own words against him to do so. Obama also had a far superior campaign organization, due in part to his superior financial resources and in part to the effective organization that he created in many states during the primary season.

Learn more about the Election Campaign themes, strategies, and developments Campaign issues and candidate positions Election Results The contest ended with a clear and undisputed victory for Obama. View state-by-state results The congressional elections also were a victory for Democrats, who added seats in the House and Senate, enhancing the majorities that they had won in both houses in the elections.

Therefore, he emphasized his credentials as someone who would change Washington, and he attempted to distance himself from President Bush as much as possible. McCain tried to rely on his established image as a Republican maverick to argue that he could work with members of both parties in Congress, pointing to many instances when he had done so during his long career as a senator.

He argued that his record proved that he, not Obama, would be better able to provide effective bipartisan leadership. However, his age and his long service in Washington may have led many voters to doubt that he would change Washington very much. His selection of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential candidate was designed to emphasize change. Palin was a fresh face on the national scene, and she had a reputation of being able to work well with Democrats in the state legislature during her short tenure as governor of Alaska.

Republican strategists claimed that she was an independent maverick, just like McCain. While this choice initially seemed to benefit the Republican ticket, Palin's inability to project knowledge and a command of the issues ultimately proved to be a drag on the ticket.

McCain attempted to distance himself from president Bush by talking about times when he disagreed with the president and by pointing out that he was not part of the incumbent administration in any way. Furthermore, he criticized Obama for trying to link him to Bush, arguing during one debate that if Obama wanted to run against Bush, he should have done so in , when Bush was on the ballot.

However, he found it difficult to criticize the Bush administration too much, as doing so would alienate the Republican base. Perhaps most importantly, McCain argued that he had the experience and maturity to be president, and that Obama did not.

This strategy involved contrasting his own lengthy record of military and public service with Obama's short resume. Moreover, McCain used his military and political record to argue that he was a dedicated public servant who put his country above his party or his personal interests. McCain especially emphasized his considerable experience in national security matters, stating that Obama's inexperience in this area would be dangerous for the nation.

Finally, McCain argued that Obama was too liberal for America. He criticized several of Obama's major proposals, such as health care reform, as expanding the role of government beyond what most Americans wanted.

Besides attacking Obama's stands on specific public policy issues, the McCain campaign also attempted to characterize Obama as far to the left by raising questions about Obama's ties to a s radical, William Ayres. The Democrats held their national convention first, in late August. Despite the intense conflict between Obama and Hillary Clinton over the nomination, and despite the disappointment of many of Clinton's supporters that she was not chosen to be the vice presidential nominee, the scene in Denver was one of relative unity among the delegates.

Clinton exhorted her followers to campaign for Obama. Obama gave what most observers rated thought was an excellent acceptance speech, which he delivered not in the convention hall but before a large crowd in an football stadium. The party seemed united behind the Obama-Biden ticket. Nevertheless, Obama received only a modest post-convention bounce. Polls taken shortly after the convention showed Obama with a several point lead over McCain. The Repubican campaign followed in early September.

Just prior to the convention, McCain announced that he had selected Alaska governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate. It was a surprise selection. Palin was hardly known outside of her home state.

Moreover, she lacked political experience. She was in her first term as governor, and she had not held any office of great consequence before being elected governor. Her selection seemed to undercut one of McCain's campaign strategies, which was to argue that Obama was too inexperienced to be president. However, McCain saw this as a bold move, one that would shake up the campaign. He thought that Palin would be seen as someone who would bring fresh ideas to Washington.

The selection of Palin was highly popular among Republicans, especially the more conservative wing of the party. When Carter first arrived in Egypt in , most of the ancient Egyptian tombs had been discovered, though the Rabin later died in surgery at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.

The year-old prime minister was walking to his car when he was shot in the arm and the Student followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini send shock waves across America when they storm the U. The radical Islamic fundamentalists took 90 hostages. The students were enraged that the deposed Shah had been allowed to enter the United States for medical A spontaneous national uprising that began 12 days before in Hungary is viciously crushed by Soviet tanks and troops on November 4, Thousands were killed and wounded and nearly a quarter-million Hungarians fled the country.

The problems in Hungary began in October , Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. Mary Todd, whose nickname was Molly, was the child of wealthy parents and received her education in prestigious all-girls schools where On November 4, , T. Eliot wins the Nobel Prize in Literature, for his profound effect on the direction of modern poetry. Eliot was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a long-established family.

His grandfather had founded Washington University in St.