Fear and loathing on the campaign trail, August 2008

September 4, 2008

August 2008 in the United States presidential election saw the emergence of two politicians selected to serve as their party's nominees. The month was full of speculation as pundits argued on the merits of who they felt were the possible "choices" for the candidates. The was held and  campaign activities increased until a looming storm caused Republicans to delay and reshuffle their.


 * Republicans
 * The took advantage of a fresh new series of ads that cast Barack Obama as a "celebrity." The candidate increased his position in the polls coming close to matching Barack Obama's lead.
 * McCain participated in the first joint-forum of the campaign with Barack Obama. At the Saddleback forum moderated by pastor . McCain discussed his past as a in Vietnam and recounted his failed first marriage. He listed , former   , and  , as the three wisest people he would consult as president. This statement raised speculation that one of the three could be chosen as McCain's running mate.
 * Comments made by McCain that he didn't know how many houses he had and a joke at the Saddleback Forum that an annual income of $5 million is the line drawn to be considered rich, led to a line of attacks against McCain by Obama and Democrats. They attempted to cast McCain as and out of touch and continued this rhetoric until the end of their convention.
 * McCain had announced that he would unveil his running mate on Aug. 29, the day following the Democratic convention. Following this announcement, most speculation about the pick surrounded former Massachusetts Mitt Romney, Minnesota ,   of Connecticut. and former Pennsylvania  and the first  . Word leaked early on the morning of Aug. 29 that Romney and Pawlenty would not be the choice. After hearing that a plane had landed in Ohio (where McCain would make his announcement) from Alaska, it was speculated that McCain would make a surprise choice and selected  Sarah Palin. Before the announcement at noon, it was leaked and confirmed that Palin was indeed McCain's choice as a.
 * The Palin selection was hailed by who pointed to the candidate's  record,  experience and record of  "fighting ." But the pick also set off a firestorm of attacks from the  who remarked that she was merely the mayor of . However his campaign stopped short of attacking Palin when it was revealed that her 17-year-old daughter was 5 months pregnant.
 * As approached the Gulf coast,  and Vice President  decided not to attend the GOP convention in . On the eve of the convention's start McCain announced that most events for the next day would be suspended.


 * Democrats
 * Obama participated in the Saddleback Forum with McCain and talked about his faith and vision for America. Taking a more philosophical approach to the questions, Obama remarked that the question of when life began was "above [his] paygrade. He reflected on the toughest decision he made in his life: his choice to oppose the war in Iraq in 2002, and discussed his past drug use as a mistake in his youth.
 * A book criticizing Obama and his life entitled ' became a New York Times best seller. Written by editor, the book looks into Obama's past associations with  and , and examines his youth in Indonesia. Corsi was attacked by the media for his publication, they reminded the public that Corsi had co-authored ' during the . However he supports Constitution Party nominee  for the presidency.
 * As Russia invaded Georgia, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware made a trip to the nation to assess the situation and talk to the . After being viewed as Obama's most likely pick as a running mate, the trip only raised speculation that Biden would be selected.
 * Obama stated that when he was ready to announce his running mate pick he would send a to supporters and individuals who signed up on his campaign website. On Aug. 22 the public waited and the media speculated all night about the announcement. Joe Biden was mentioned as the frontrunner, and also discussed were Senator  of Indiana, Virginia , Kansas   and longshot Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. As the day went on reports confirmed that Congressman  of Texas was another member of Obama's shortlist. Late in the night it was confirmed that Kaine and Bayh had been eliminated and Biden looked to be the nominee. At about 1 a.m. CDT, the Obama campaign sent out the message confirming that Joe Biden had been selected.
 * The Democratic National Convention was held in Denver amidst protests. Hillary and Bill Clinton each lent their full-hearted support to Obama in addresses to the delegates. Senators Obama and Biden each accepted the nominations for president and vice president, respectively. Obama's acceptance speech on the last night of the convention at  in front of 84,000 was the highlight of the convention and both applauded and criticized.


 * Third Parties
 * won the nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party during its convention in August. With 46 delegate votes, Nader defeated nominee,  nominee , and  nominee.
 * held an anti- rally at in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. The event was meant as a "third party convention for the conservatives—."  Attending the protests were Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin,  nominee, Independent candidate . and former Republican Party presidential candidate Congressman.
 * Montana  increased speculation about the devastating impact of the  to the John McCain campaign. The moderate Democratic governor stated that his constituents may not vote for McCain because of  on  and that their votes might instead go to Bob Barr. Pointing to polling, Schweitzer argued that Obama could possibly win the state with 48% because of Barr's impact. The governor's assessment may give insight about Barr's effect on McCain in swing and moderately  like Montana, which has voted Republican in every presidential election since.

Editor's Note
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail... is a monthly article about the campaign events during the past month. The title is based on the series of articles written by journalist and compiled into a publication entitled .