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An unforgettable primary season sizzles on

Written by Amanda Mann, A&E Editor

Monday, 07 April 2008

This has been a banner election year, with cliff-hanging primary campaigns.  If you blinked, you might have missed pivotal decisions that lead up to the 2008 United States presidential election, set for Tuesday, November 4.  Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain and Democrat frontrunners Barack Obama as well as Hillary Rodham Clinton are all sitting senators, of Arizona, Illinois, and New York, respectively.  So it will be a major change to have the victor of the 2008 election the first sitting senator elected to the Presidency since 1960, when John F. Kennedy was elected. No Hollywood screenwriter could have written a believable script, describing how Obama, Clinton and McCain actually became frontrunners.  Here’s how it transpired.  The Primary elections started in January 2008 with upsets for candidates Mitt Romney, Clinton and Rudy Guiliani.  Other candidates, Mike Huckabee, Barack Obama, and John McCain found themselves rising in the polls.  Obama was the new front runner in New Hampshire and the Clinton campaign was struggling.  However, in a turning point for her campaign, Clinton shed tears in a public interview broadcast lived on TV.  By the end of the day, Clinton won the primary by a couple of points.  McCain also staged a turnaround victory that month. On February 3 on the campus of UCLA, celebrities Oprah Winfrey, Caroline Kenney, and Stevie Wonder, among others, made appearances to show support for Obama in a rally held by Michelle Obama.  Though Obama’s poll numbers increased after this event, he ended up losing California to Clinton.  On February 5, also known as Super Tuesday, the largest simultaneous number of state U.S. presidential primary elections was held.  Twenty-four states and American Samoa held either caucuses or primary elections for one or both parties on this date, leaving the Democrats in a tie and McCain just short of clinching the Republican nod.  March 4, sometimes referred to as Mini Tuesday, was when the delegate-rich states of Texas and Ohio, along with Rhode Island and Vermont, voted for both parties.  In a somewhat surprise upset for Obama, Clinton added Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island in the Democratic parties.  John McCain secured the Republican nomination after winning all four primaries.  Mike Huckabee finally conceded the race to McCain.  Several presidential primaries will take place between April and June.  Pennsylvania will vote on April 22 and may be Clinton’s last change to catch up to Obama.  The final primary will be on June 1 in Puerto Rico for the Democrats.  Revotes may happen in Michigan and Florida.  It will be the 56th consecutive quadrennial election for president and vice president of the United States.  It will also overlap with the 2008 Senate elections in 35 states, House of Representatives elections in all states, and gubernatorial elections in 11 states, as well as many local elections. Just like the 2004 presidential election, the part of the electoral votes to each state will be based partially on the 2000 Census.  The president-elect and vice president-elect are scheduled to be inaugurated on January 20, 2009. As citizens of the United States we have a duty to keep ourselves informed about these primary elections and exactly how what we are going to be voting for as we line up to cast the final votes on November 4.

 

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