An Exceptional Election: Performance, Values, and Crisis in the 2008 Presidential Election
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James E. Campbell
This article examines the influences on the 2008 presidential election that led to the election of Barack Obama. There were many reasons why observers expected 2008 to be a strong year for the Democrats. The poor retrospective evaluations of the Bush presidency were thought to be too much of a burden for any Republican presidential candidate to bear successfully. On the other hand, open seat elections have been historically close, in part because successor candidates receive neither the full credit nor the full blame of incumbents. Moreover, in a period of partisan parity and ideological polarization, tight contests are to be expected. Add to these factors the fact that neither party's nominee faced an easy time winning his party's nomination and the fact that McCain was unusually moderate for a Republican presidential candidate and Obama was a northern liberal as well as the first African-American presidential candidate of a major party and there was every reason to suspect a closely decided election. That was the way that the election was shaping up in the polls until the Wall Street meltdown hit in mid-September. It was the "game changer" that tipped the election to Obama.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- Election Issue and Blog Discussion
- Article
- Race and the Moral Character of the Modern American Experience
- Interest Groups in the 2008 Presidential Election: The Barking Dog That Didn't Bite
- The Nomination and the Election: Clearing Away Underbrush
- The Return of the Voter: Voter Turnout in the 2008 Presidential Election
- Foreign Affairs and the 2008 Election
- Presidential Election Forecasts
- An Exceptional Election: Performance, Values, and Crisis in the 2008 Presidential Election
- The Magnitude of the 2008 Democratic Victory: By the Numbers
- LBJ's Revenge: The 2008 Election and the Rise of the Great Society Coalition
- Whither the Roberts Court?
- Review
- Review of America's Three Regimes: A New Political History
- Review of Panorama of a Presidency: How George W. Bush Acquired and Spent His Political Capital
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- Election Issue and Blog Discussion
- Article
- Race and the Moral Character of the Modern American Experience
- Interest Groups in the 2008 Presidential Election: The Barking Dog That Didn't Bite
- The Nomination and the Election: Clearing Away Underbrush
- The Return of the Voter: Voter Turnout in the 2008 Presidential Election
- Foreign Affairs and the 2008 Election
- Presidential Election Forecasts
- An Exceptional Election: Performance, Values, and Crisis in the 2008 Presidential Election
- The Magnitude of the 2008 Democratic Victory: By the Numbers
- LBJ's Revenge: The 2008 Election and the Rise of the Great Society Coalition
- Whither the Roberts Court?
- Review
- Review of America's Three Regimes: A New Political History
- Review of Panorama of a Presidency: How George W. Bush Acquired and Spent His Political Capital
