I don't want this thread to be about anything happening in particular, but more as a case study of what has happened thus far and speculation on what will happen. My stand on this may change as the year wears on, so I hope this thread doesn't get lost in misc.
First, if you plan on posting you should read this, or at the very least skim my experts.
The Republican Party has chosen John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona as its nominee; Barack Obama, the junior United States Senator from Illinois, has been chosen as the nominee for the Democratic Party. The 2008 election is particularly notable because it is the first time in U.S. history that two sitting senators will run against each other for president, and because it is the first time an African American is a presidential nominee for a major party, as well as the first time both major candidates were born outside the continental United States - Hawaii for Obama and the Canal Zone in Panama for McCain. With African-AmericanCaucasian parentage, as the Democratic Party nominee for President and John McCain's selection of female Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican Party nominee for Vice-President, the eventual winning ticket is virtually assured of having a historic context. Barring unforeseen events, this will be the first time in American history in which a candidate on the winning ticket is either a woman or an African American.
The 2008 election marks the first time since the 1928 election in which neither an incumbent President nor an incumbent Vice President ran for their party's nomination in the presidential election,[1] and the first time since the 1952 election that neither the incumbent President nor incumbent Vice President is a candidate in the general election. The incumbent President, George W. Bush, is serving his second term and is barred from running again by the term limits in the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution. Vice President Dick Cheney has chosen not to seek the presidency.
The nominees for the major party nominations were both serving United States Senators: Republican candidate John McCain (Arizona) and Democratic candidate Barack Obama (Illinois). It is the first time in history that the two main opponents in the general election are both sitting Senators.[5] Therefore, it appears virtually certain that the 2008 election will mark the first time since the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 that a sitting Senator will be elected President of the United States, and only the third time ever in American history, after John F. Kennedy and Warren G. Harding. Obama's running mate, Joe Biden of Delaware, is also a sitting senator.
In an op-ed published on April 27, 2008 in The New York Times, Elizabeth Edwards bemoaned that the media covered much more of "the rancor of the campaign" and "amount of money spent" than "the candidates' priorities, policies and principles". She went on to compare much of the media coverage to a soap opera and stated that, as result, "voters who take their responsibility to be informed seriously enough to search out information about the candidates are finding it harder and harder to do so, particularly if they do not have access to the Internet". Edwards continued, "an informed electorate is essential to freedom itself. But as long as corporations to which news gathering is not the primary source of income or expertise get to decide what information about the candidates 'sells,' we are not functioning as well as we could if we had the engaged, skeptical press we deserve". Edwards stated that what was worse is that trends hold out dim hope that the quality of media coverage will improve, stating that "media consolidation is leading to one-size-fits-all journalism." Worst of all, she said, poor media coverage "gives us permission to ignore issues and concentrate on things that don’t matter"
*cough* Now that you have done that, let's talk. The way Clinton and Obama went about their campaigns really DID remind me of a soap opera. They went for the jugular on things of little importance to the issues at hand. It was ridiculous. They had the Democratic Party so divided that it's no surprise to me that McCain decided to capitalize on it and pick a female running mate. Studies show that the running VP has little to no effect on the Presidential Candidate's chances. I think he hoped to snag all the female votes for the Democratic Party, personally, and he could have done a much better job at hiding that was what he was doing. I mean, Palin is the Governor of ALASKA of all places. Not even the continental US.
Truly, this election is going to be very historic because it will mean either an Afican American or a woman in office (even if it's only VP). And, less importantly, because neither the former president nor former vice president is running again, it's all senators.
And what of the issues at hand? Of course, the war in Iraq, unemployment rates, the deficit, gay marriage, illegal immigration, and so much more. I confess I don't even know the candidates' stances on the issues!
And besides all of this, I was really surprised that Guiliani did not make the ballot, though not so much about Romney. McCain ninjaed the candidacy from the NY Senator, quite a feat. I remember how people were laughing him out of the race back when it was the three of them. You can't deny his POW record, he truly is a hero. I think that story is being overused though. And Obama's "Change we can count on" is running a little thin too.
But, all in all, from the chart it would seem that Obama is leading the race. I was under the impression that Obama's articulating skills towered over McCain's, and that he would be the favorite. He is still in the lead, but not by much it seems. Maybe that will only come once the celebs really start rallying the college students to vote.
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