Winners and Losers – Decision ’08
Like any other election season, we have seen political fortunes soar for some while some have suffered major setbacks to their political future. This post will explore the Winners and Losers (and those in between) of the Presidential campaign.
Winners
- Obama-Biden, Axelrod et al - Barring a couple of incidents, the Obama campaign was fantastic. It was run with a Bush-like discipline and a Clintonesque approach towards the media. Obama’s negative attacks was mainly under the radar (they were in the form of radio attacks) and the campaign managed to come off as “above the fray”.
- Tina Fey and late night comedy - Tina Fey nailed the Palin impersonations and the exposure added considerable boost to her career and brought in great promotion to 30 Rock. Palin also provided plenty of material for hosts of late night comedy shows.
- The Democratic Party - 4 years ago, the Democrats were in a horrible shape. Karl Rove was talking about a permanent Republican majority. But thanks to the wave elections of 2006 and 2008, Democrats are stronger than ever and the hands of Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are greatly strengthened. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (head of DSCC) and Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MDs 8th) (head of DCCC) won rave reviews for a repeat performance (although Rahm Emmanuel was in charge of putting the Democrats back in power in the House 2006, Congressman Van Hollen was quite instrumental as well).
- The Internet – The campaigns of Ron Paul and Barack Obama did one heck of a job in using the Internet to raise record fund raising totals. The Obama campaign also used the Internet to help supporters organize themselves and canvass for them. The Internet will surely play a bigger role in future campaigns.
Losers
- The Republican Party – Just years after talking about a permanent majority, the Republicans are in pretty poor shape. They’ve suffered defeats across the board.
- The McCain brand – 8 years ago, when Sen. McCain (R-AZ) first ran for President, America fell in love with this man. This was a man who spoke his mind, wasn’t beholden to special interests or to party leaders. Unfortunately, he had to abandon his “maverick” credentials and run as a candidate of the Right. 2 years ago, President. Clinton said McCain was the best hope of Republicans in 2008. He was absolutely right (Obama and Clinton had in fact struggled against McCain in much of the earlier polling). McCain, despite making Ethics reform the signature issue of his career, was portrayed as too close to special interests and out of touch. He also seemed extremely uncomfortable debating Obama and campaigning against him in general.
- Joe Lieberman – The Independent Senator (Lieberman was a Democrat. He ran as an Independent after losing the Democratic Primary to Ned Lamont) endorsed McCain and attacked Obama’s readiness to lead. He was reportedly McCain’s first VP Choice (However his advisers had “vetoed” the choice fearing a convention floor fight) and would’ve undoubtedly found a Cabinet Position had McCain won. Now there’s talk about Lieberman being thrown out of the Democratic caucus or being stripped of his commitee chairmanships (I frankly think it’s a horrible idea).
- Bill Clinton – Wrongly accused of racism (by the Obama campaign) many analysts felt President Clinton contributed to Hillary Clinton’s loses. The Clintons also fell out of favor within the African American community (thanks to the race card being played effectively by the Obama campaign). His approval and favorable ratings took a nose dive as well.
Somewhere in between
- Hillary Clinton - Once the inevitable President, she lost a string of races to Obama and lost a very narrow victory to Senator Obama. However she was very successful in getting her former supporters to vote for Sen. Obama and was very gracious in defeat.
- Sarah Palin – Although widely mocked for her rather interesting answers, the VP pick thrusted her onto the national scene. The GOP is very forgiving of those who lost elections (Reagan, Dole and even McCain are excellent examples of this). There’s already talk about 2012 – or 2016.
- The Media – Despite record ratings, the Media reared its ugly side with a string of sexist comments against Hillary Clinton. It was also wrongly accused of racism (by the Obama campaign) and sexism (by the McCain campaign).
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