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- THE 2008
PRESIDENTIAL RACE
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- Here's
where the polls were on June 6th, after Barack won the
Democratic Primary.
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- Seven days
later, media lost one of its giants. Tim Russert,
NBC's Washington Bureau Chief and host of Meet the
Press died of a heart attack at his desk, on Friday,
June 13, 2008.
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- He was just 5
months older than me. It dawned on me that
Tim had
passed doing what he loved.
That made me ask the question: If I were to pass on
tomorrow, would I be doing that one thing in my life
that I really love? My answer was...no. I made the
decision then that I would make
time in my life for some good old rock 'n
roll.
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- Tim wrote a
couple of great books. I highly recommend them. My
son, Adam, bought them for me.
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- By the end of
June, Hillary came out in full support of Barack. They
looked like two long-lost buddies that were finally
reunited. Hillary's supporters took a little longer to
start supporting Barack.
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- By July 9th,
the polls were shifting towards Barack.
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- McCain's
campaign was not getting any traction. They decided to
go after the media, for being in the tank for Barack.
The cover of the New Yorker Magazine on July 21st was
certainly not pro-Obama.
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- Not to be
outdone, Vanity Fair spoofs The New
Yorker.
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- And of course,
someone had to have a little fun with a conservative
magazine cover.
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- Earlier in
July, McCain started going after Barack on his Iraq
"War" policy, saying that since he hasn't been to Iraq
in quite some time, how could he know the situation
well enough to come up with a plan? Barack never
answered McCain with words. He let his overseas trip
speak for itself.
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- He met with
world leaders.
- He was asked to
speak in Israel and Jordon.
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- He met with our
troops.
- Finally, he
spoke to 200,000 people waving AMERICAN flags
in Berlin - excitement we haven't seen from our
European friends in a long time.
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- Papers from
around the world made this event their front page
story. McCain made the public mistake of challenging
Barack to make this trip, not realizing that it had
been in the works for nearly a month.
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- When Barack
returned, the McCain camp launched their
"Celebrity"
attack. The idea was that he was JUST a
celebrity, and not a serious candidate for President
because he was too inexperienced. Needless to say, the
media had a little fun with it, too.
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- Paris Hilton
was also seen in the ad very briefly, so she decided
to push back with a video that actually talked about
an economic plan that made sense. Go
figure! (No,
I'm not a Paris Hilton fan, by any stretch of the
imagination.)
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- It's true that
Barack is a political celebrity - the likes of which
we haven't seen since John F. Kennedy back in the 1960
Presidential race. He attracted huge crowds at many
rallies prior to the overseas trip and McCain's
attack.
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- 75,000
in Denver
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- He also held
town meetings in much smaller venues.
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- If you were to
stack up all the magazines that featured Barack on the
cover through this election season, you could
understand how the attack on Barack could impress the
Low
Information Voter.
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- The polls
shifted slightly, reflecting the "Celebrity" attacks
on Barack's campaign.
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- After the ads
were aired, and almost in defiance of them, 100,000
people showed up in St. Louis.
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- On August 23rd,
we learned that Joe Biden, US Senator from
Delaware, would be Barack's running mate. They
announced in Springfield, Illinois, to a crowd of
35,000.
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- On August 29th,
we learned that John McCain's running mate would be
Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska.
- Very little was
known about Palin. Reporters started scurrying to
Alaska to learn about her. It was soon discovered that
she was under investigation for abuse of power. The
speculation
about her qualifications kept the media
busy.
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- The
Conventions
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- The Democratic
Convention was held in Denver with the finalé
at Invesco Field on Thursday, August 28th. Many
thought that Barack giving his acceptance speech at
Invesco was a bit over-the-top. Personally, I
understood why he wanted to do that. There is the
"Thank You" logic that says, "We'd like to invite as
many people as possible to this historic evening" but
I think there was another reason.
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- As a performer,
I know that you get
much of your energy from the crowd.
Barack most certainly knows this as well. He knew that
this was a pivotal moment in the race and in his life.
Making sure that he had a large audience for this
speech was critical to its success and to the media
successfully reporting the event. The
outside, nighttime setting and 84,000 people looked
very impressive in pictures and
video.
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- After a
successful Democratic Convention, it was the
Republican's turn - the following week. Usually there
is a 3 to 4 week period between conventions. I don't
recall any explanation for why the Dems moved theirs
back. At the beginning of September, the polls looked
much like they did at the beginning of
August.
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- The Republican
Convention was hurt
by the hurricanes in Oklahoma and
Texas. The
first day, September 1st, there was some usual
convention opening business and Cindy McCain along
with Laura Bush spoke. Day two was more lively, but
still lacked the energy of the Democratic Convention.
Sarah Palin's speech on Wednesday, September 3rd got
things going. Having been a local sportscaster in
Alaska, she was very experienced reading a
teleprompter. Her delivery
was smooth.
She looked confident and up to the task of attacking
the Democratic nominee. The speech
was well-crafted by some of George Bush's speech
writers. It
targeted Barack's supposed lack of experience to be
our country's President and our Commander in Chief.
John McCain's acceptance speech was a let-down by
comparison to Palin's. This seemed like an omen for
how the rest of the campaign would go for him - his VP
nominee upstaging
him in rallies and in the media.
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- Pollsters went
to work around the clock after Palin's speech. The
polls taken in the several days after the speech
showed a quick shift towards McCain-Palin from
Obama-Biden. The media was reporting a 10-point shift
towards McCain. But the facts showed it to be a little
over 5 points. The polls peaked for McCain on
September 14th.
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- It would be the
only period
of time John McCain would be ahead
in the polls.
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- Then came the
Katie Couric
and Charlie Gibson interviews
with Palin. She was not prepared to be interviewed on
the major issues such as foreign and domestic
policies, the economy, the role of the Vice President
and how it relates to Congress's role, and on and on.
It became quite evident that she was not prepared for
the office of Vice President of the United States,
should she and McCain win the election. With McCain's
history of cancer and the known statistic that one out
of four 72 year old men do not live to see 75, this
was a growing concern among Republicans.
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- Tina
Fey of
Saturday
Night Live and
30
Rock became
a household name with her spot-on impersonation of
Palin. Many times, the script did not differ from
Palin's own words.
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- The
Financial Industry Gets
Rocked
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- On September
15th, Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy. Shortly
after that, insurance giant AIG goes to the government
for a bailout of over $100B dollars.
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- Wall
Street goes into a downward
spiral
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- That same
morning, John McCain said not to worry, that the
"
fundamentals of our economy are strong
" -
using George Bush's line from a few months back. It's
as if he couldn't think of anything else to say, but
did not want to agree with Barack. Three hours later,
he completely reversed his statement, saying,
"
we are in a crisis." It must have pained him to
separate from Bush. (You had to know that I would use
these pics somewhere.)
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- Then, for no
discernable reason, he "suspends" his campaign on
Wednesday, the 24th, to go to Washington D.C. and
"
solve the crisis
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- McCain had
asked Barack to suspend his campaign as well. Barack
never responded to that request, but when he was asked
to go to Washington to sit at the table with President
Bush, he accepted the invitation.
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- Realizing his
first debate with Barack was scheduled for the coming
Friday, the 26th, McCain then suggests that the debate
be postponed so that all his attention can be focused
on the financial situation. Barack responded with
"
presidents have to be able to do two
things at once
" and "
America
needs to hear from the candidates now more than ever
" Touché.
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- Meanwhile, a
bailout plan was finally passed. Both Barack and
McCain vote for it. We, the taxpayers, are now part
owners in a variety of financial
institutions.
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- Wall Street was
walking on eggshells as the Dow dipped to below 9000
from a high of 14,000.
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- President Bush
is powerless to do anything because confidence in his
abilities was at an all time low - the lowest for any
sitting President.
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- The
Debates
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- Debates are
really not debates anymore. They are heavily weighted
with formality and stop watches. These were no
exception, until the 3rd debate, when out of
God-knows-where, comes "Joe,
the Plumber."
Are
you kidding me?
McCain kept referring to a conversation that Barack
Obama had with a northern Ohio resident. Barack used
the word "redistribute" in describing how the middle
class has been hurt by the Bush Administration's tax
policies.
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- Barack said
that maybe it was time for the average income earner
in this country to receive some of the same tax breaks
that the top 2% benefited from for the past eight
years thereby redistributing some of the "wealth" BACK
to the middle class. This little exchange created a
lot of media attention for Joe.
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- There was one
moment in the third debate where McCain walked in
front of the teleprompter and when he finally realized
it and started moving out of the way, made one of the
funniest faces I've ever seen. I couldn't resist using
this picture.
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- The
Right Place at the Right Time
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- My son,
Adam,
managed to get a press pass for the third debate. The
guy never ceases to amaze me. Lonna and I watched him
on TV in the press room and did the cell phone thing -
watching him talk to us through our TV and the
national media. You can read the whole story
here.
He took some great pics.
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- By October 2nd,
the polls started shifting away from
McCain.
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- Palin started
strongly and forcefully attacking Barack, the role of
most VP nominees on the campaign trail. The
McCain-Palin rallies started to have some
electricity.
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- But it quickly
became obvious that people were coming to see her, not
him. After she spoke, and McCain got up to speak,
people would drift out of the rallies.
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- The campaign
then decided to split them up, but that backfired. Her
crowds were consistently much larger than McCain's, a
point that was not lost on the media.
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- She was
upstaging the Presidential nominee - something you
don't want happening - especially when there are real
doubts that your VP nominee is qualified to be Vice
President, much less... President.
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- In an attempt
to boost the attendance, McCain started using "Joe the
Plumber" at his rallies. Joe was not impressive. It
was also learned that Joe did not always have kind
words to say about McCain.
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- Near the end,
the McCain camp started having issues with Palin about
$150,000 in wardrobe expenditures, speech text, etc.
which ultimately caused separation between her
"people" and the McCain camp.
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- Joe the Plumber
had some of his own issues - unpaid taxes, no license
as a plumber and no where near enough money to start
his own business as he claimed. It was as if McCain
was left to his own devices to make his campaign
succeed.
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- Many
Republicans
had been moving towards Barack throughout this
presidential season - most notably, well-known op-ed
writers and commentators like David Brooks of the New
York Times, George
Will of the Washington Post and ABC News, and
Kathleen Parker of the National Review. The biggest
reason for their shift was the choice of Sarah Palin
for VP.
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- Colin
Powell,
former Secretary of State under George W. Bush, and
before that, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for
both George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, was probably
the best-known Republican to endorse Barack. Here's
some of what he had to say:
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dont believe [Palin] is ready to be
president of the United States,
Powell
said flatly. By contrast, Obamas running mate,
Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware,
is ready to be president on day one.
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- Stressing that
Obama was a lifelong Christian, Powell denounced
Republican tactics that he said were insulting not
only to Obama but also to Muslims.
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really right answer is what if he is?
Powell
said, praising the contributions of millions of Muslim
citizens to American society. I
look at these kind of approaches to the campaign, and
they trouble me, Powell
said. Over
the last seven weeks, the approach of the Republican
Party has become narrower and narrower.
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truly believe that at this point in Americas
history we need a president who will not just continue
... basically the policies we have followed in recent
years, he
said. We
need a president with transformational
qualities.
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- For that
reason, he said, I
will be voting for Barack Obama.
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- By mid-October,
the polls started widening for Barack.
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- McCain started
using a new phrase at his rallies. "We've
got 'em right where we want 'em!"
he would say, trying to deflect attention from the
widening gap in the polls. Inside, I'm sure he was
concerned that it might already be over.
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- By November
1st, it probably was over.
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- You had to know
Adam
would not miss an opportunity to be at one of Barack's
rallies. He and a friend drove all night to get to a
morning rally
in Nevada.
The pictures he took are GREAT!
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- On November
2nd, I had the same opportunity to attend one of
Barack's final rallies before the election. I asked
Lonna if she wanted to go see Barack speak for her
birthday. She gladly said yes. Afterwards, we went out
to dinner. It was a great day.
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- Now I have to
tell you that standing for over five and a half hours
(three in one place) is not my idea of a good time.
But having the opportunity to see the next President
of the United States speak far outweighed any
discomfort that I experienced.
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- There were
80,000 people in downtown Columbus for this
event.
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- As we were
leaving, I took a few pictures with my BlackBerry just
to see if I could get anything at all. We were walking
as I took the pictures.
- This is the
best I could do for video of the event. We were all
squished together and holding a camera still over my
head was not easy.
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- And then
came November 4th.
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