Posted on: Sunday, November 2, 2008
Boiling campaign down to 6 key moments
Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON — Six events or decisions became the defining moments of the 2008 presidential campaign:
The crash in the mortgage industry and stock markets, which intensified the focus on the global economy just as millions of Americans were making up their minds between Barack Obama and John McCain.
Obama's victory and John Edwards' second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, which pushed one-time front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton into a trailing position she was never able to fully overcome.
McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, which boosted the Republican's campaign ahead in the poll. But Palin's luster faded, and she became a highly divisive figure by the end of the campaign. McCain's brief lead evaporated.
Obama's decision to choose Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, and not Clinton, as his running mate. It angered Clinton supporters, some of whom are campaigning for McCain.
McCain's victory in the New Hampshire primary, his second redemptive finish in that state (he also beat George W. Bush there in 2000). It allowed McCain to outlast the rest of the GOP field.
The poor performances of front-runners or candidates who were expected to shine. Obama's campaign was tactically and organizationally superior to Clinton's. Republican Rudy Giuliani knocked himself out by ignoring early primaries and caucuses. And Fred Thompson, greatly anticipated as a Reaganesque figure for part of 2007, was uninspired and uninspiring in the GOP primaries.
