15: In 200 Years, What Will They Say About Us?

The presidential and vice-presidential debates of 2008 were responsible for creating history, and sparking much publicity and excitement, the likes of which have never been seen before. In the first presidential debate, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama took the stage in front of thousands of audience members and millions of viewers. They each made a strong impression, and elaborated on their policies and strengths, as well as opponents’ weaknesses. After that debate, the polls showed Obama in the lead. This was such a historical debate because Barack Obama was the first African American man to ever run for president of the United States.

Something that majorly helped Obama to gain his lead was by comparing John McCain to George W. Bush, the previous president of the United States, who served 2 terms. By the time his presidency was over, he was widely disliked by the majority of the American (and world) population. Initially, in the 2000 election, he hadn't even won the popular vote, but the vote was close enough that the electoral college, which did vote in his favor, was enough to sway the election. In the 2004, however, George W. Bush did win the popular vote.

After the first 2008 presidential debate, there came the Vice presidential debates, in which Governor Sarah Palin and Joe Biden debated in the same format. This was another history-making debate, since if John McCain were to win, Sarah Palin would be the first female vice-president. By the end of that debate, Biden was shown to have a very large lead. In the second presidential debates, Obama and McCain had a town hall style debate, in which both of the candidates were mildly incoherent and failed to answer the majority of the questions. This, however, was meant to be John McCain’s specialty, which is why, after that debate, Barack Obama had only a slight lead.

In the third presidential debates, the nominees sat one on one. There, they flung accusations, discussed and argued about each other’s policies, and gave a few shout-outs to Joe the plumber. Barack Obama was shown to have the lead after that debate was through – although John McCain had made a very large improvement from his previous 2 debates. Shortly afterward, Barack Obama released an advertisement in all the “battleground” states, which showed John McCain saying how he has agreed with 90% of Bush’s decisions. This pushed him very far ahead in the polls, as well as with the electoral college.

"Facts Muddled In Mississippi McCain-Obama Meeting," FactCheck, http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/15/1550438.aspx, 9/27/08

"Presidential Election Of 2000, Electoral And Popular Vote Summary," InfoPlease, http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0876793.html

Mark Murray, "Joe The Plumber," FirstRead, http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/15/1550438.aspx, 10/15/08

"Election Center 2008,"CNN Politics, http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/