2008 US Presidential Race, Obama vs McCain

[monsoon]

Obama will be the 44th President of the USA. The United States is headed to something new as this marks the end of Reaganism (Bushism)

[Gard]

^

Media now referring to Obama as the 44th President. Absolutely amazing that as a nation, we have come this far. It will be interesting to see which direction he moves. Analysts are saying that he will likely stay around the center, knowing that the majority of Americans are around that area in their political views.

[erdogs]

Well so much for the racist America that so many around the world speak of. While I didn't vote for Obama or want him to win, this is a great day in American history.

[cpeakesqr]

Finally, it's over. It'll be time to get to work soon.

[voyager12]

Overall,I am quite happy about Obama's historic win. Sadly the democratic wave does not seem to be cresting high enough to turn back the three anti-gay measures in Florida ( gay marriage ban) Arkansas ( gay adoption ban) California ( eliminating the right of gays to marry). If all three are approved, gays should go on strike

[erdogs]

Overall,I am quite happy about Obama's historic win. Sadly the democratic wave does not seem to be cresting high enough to turn back the three anti-gay measures in Florida ( gay marriage ban) Arkansas ( gay adoption ban) California ( eliminating the right of gays to marry). If all three are approved, gays should go on strike

[kayman]

Overall,I am quite happy about Obama's historic win. Sadly the democratic wave does not seem to be cresting high enough to turn back the three anti-gay measures in Florida ( gay marriage ban) Arkansas ( gay adoption ban) California ( eliminating the right of gays to marry). If all three are approved, gays should go on strike

[voyager12]

Oh I forgot to add to the party. ...Arizona's gay marriage ban is moving toward approval as well. It failed last time around but it was underhandedly forced back on to the ballot this go around. Now I am going to try and focus on the historic presidential milestone we witnessed tonight

[suburban george3]

OK its starting to end. Where is everyone watching the election results or maybe you are not following it?

I am watching MSNBC and local TV in Charlotte and I have my laptop skimming the internet. lol

[tamias6]

I am beyond elation to have been a part of history. I hope Obama has the strength and wisdom to be a good president. Now its time to get to work and get this country back on track.

[Charlotteman]

Ol' Liddy Dole really showed her butt with the Godless Americans commercial. She has lost her Senate seat. Karma has bitten her on her godless butt-lol

[sean]

Awesome!

[Lowerdeck]

It will be interesting to see which direction he moves. Analysts are saying that he will likely stay around the center, knowing that the majority of Americans are around that area in their political views.

[kayman]

Oh I forgot to add to the party. ...Arizona's gay marriage ban is moving toward approval as well. It failed last time around but it was underhandedly forced back on to the ballot this go around. Now I am going to try and focus on the historic presidential milestone we witnessed tonight

[vdogg]

We still have a long way to go brother, you have to change the minds of the average citizens. As time passes, this too will pass. Keep your chin up.

[monsoon]

I will report on m state. It's still very close, but it looks as if North Carolina has flipped from Red to Blue state, but just barely. Obama is ahead by about 11,000 votes in and election where 4.2M votes were cast, Obama is ahead by just 11,246 votes. (they are going to have to work through the provisional votes)

As mentioned earlier, NC threw out our celebrity senator Elizabeth Dole who held Jessie Helms former seat. So this seat is now democratic which has been held by the GOP since 1972. Helms held that seat for a long time.

North Carolina also elected it's first woman governor, Beverly Purdue also a democratic. This isn't that unusual as there have only been 3 GOP governors in NC in the last 100 years, but her challenger, Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory, did put up a pretty good challenge. His downfall for the most part is that he is not well liked outside the city of Charlotte and the fact that he stood by Bush's side in the 2004 GOP convention and made a speech saying that Bush was good for America.

Finally our state has a highly gerrymandered set of congressional districts which guarantees a number of safe seats for both parties. However one of them flipped from Red to Blue so NC will also be sending at least one more democrat to the House of Representatives in its 13 member congressional delegation.

All in all, a very good night.

[JunktionFET]

I'm pleased with the way the election turned out. I can't believe that ~4.2 million votes (plus some) are from NC, that's like half the state's population. That has to be a record turnout.

I think McCrory's big business and Republican butt-kissing sealed him out of the election. He would've had more Democratic support if he didn't hang out with that crowd as much. Some of the other things he stood for (that came out with some time and research) showed he wasn't as moderate as a lot of people thought. Eeek. Oh well.

[Nashville_maestro]

Tennessee report: Obama carried Nashville and Memphis turning Davidson & Shelby counties respectivly blue. Unfortunatly, it wasn't enough to offset Knoxville and Chattanooga and just about every suburban and rural county in between that went red. McCain recieved Tennessee's 11 electoral votes.

Tenessee also elected for the first time in many years a republican in both the state house seat and the state senate seat. This doesn't please me at all as I think there needs to be a balance in government as there has been in this state for as long as I can remember; however I am glad that Obama won the presidency. It will be interesting to see what the stock market does today.

[BrasilnSC]

Here in South Carolina, our state was called for McCain extremely early which was sort of disheartning. I thought we really had a change to become a blue state this time around (wishful thinking I guess ).

But looking at the numbers, I feel much better. Almost half of our counties went for Obama (20 of 48), including my home county of Richland which includes the city of Columbia (64% Obama). Charleston also went for Obama as well as some rural counties. The Upstate remained a Republican stronghold in this election. Here's the break down map: SC County Results

I do hope that people realize that while SC was once again a red state, the entire state is far from being that conservative.........800,000 (45%) South Carolinians cast their vote for Obama.

[Lowerdeck]

At another board I go to, there was a discussion by a couple of people on the future of the Republican party from here. Now that people in America have taken the Democrats over the Bush-style Republicans, what happens to the GOP from here? This clearly shows a divide in the GOP between the social conservative, fiscally irresponsible, slash and burn, fear and scare, chest-thumping warhawks of the Bush camp and the fiscal conservatives, social moderates, supporters of personal freedoms and smaller government.

So, here's my reply in that topic reposted here. Figure it could create some interesting discussion.

----

I honestly can not think of any serious challenge to Obama in 2012, I really can't. The Republicans can throw someone out there like Palin or Romney, maybe Huckabee. I think Jeb Bush is ruined from any Presidential aspirations by his brother. Palin plays to the Bush base, but surely that won't be enough to dethrone Obama. She would get crushed worse than McCain did last night.

Romney probably has the best chance from the Republicans, unless some name comes from nowhere (like Obama did with the Dems) and takes the party. Even him, I can't see him beating Obama in 2012 unless:

1. The economy further collapses under the heavily Dem administration

2. There is a huge leftward swing in the country that scares the crap out of a lot of people. So in a nutshell, Obama needs to keep Capitol Hill moderate instead of letting Pelosi, Reid, and Frank foam at the mouth and go do whatever.

I don't think the Bush-style Republicans are done with this election. They may have one last gasp in 2012, especially if the Republicans pick Palin or Huckabee or someone in that boat. I feel 2012 will be the year they get crushed into oblivion. After that a return to the fiscal conservancy, smaller government, and more personal freedoms I can envision... or I at least hope for it.

I desperately want to see a return of the Republican party in New England, and have more of the moderate Republicans from New England become bigger players on the national stage.

[Charles Pearson]

That's good to hear...BrasilnSC...I saw a little of the States returns and was disappointed in SC, my native land. In discussion with a friend I even considered canceling my trip there in about ten days. However, I see that Charleston, my favorite "watering" spot, went overwhelmingly for Obama. I see that Florence county, where I was born in a town called Johnsonville about forty miles from Myrtle Beach, wasn't far off in support of Obama. And Florentines are so hard to change or try anything new, so that was a positive for Florence. My trip to Carolina is yet on...

In San Francisco the way my neighborhood (Castro District) carried on with honking horns up and down Market Street and people screaming at the top of their lungs into the wee hours you would have thought the 49ers had won its 6th Super Bowl (wishful thinking!).

The City by the Bay partied in good spirits for our new Commander-in-Chief, and I am terribly sleepy...

BTW Prop R (not Q, which I mistakedly wrote) to change the name of Oceanside to George W Bush Sewage went down in flames.

[monsoon]

To re-state a bit of what you said in different terms it is really the difference between Conservatives and Reaganists. By conservative, I mean the description of the Republican party prior to Reagan. BTW Reaganism is really the word for Bush family politics. I am of the opinion that when they shot Reagan in 1981, he never really recovered and the White House and party was really being run by a stealth Bush administration.

In any case people have long equated conservatism = Reaganism which really isn't the case. Conservatism in this context used to mean intellectual conservatism. Most people today believes this means social conservatism. The GOP has a tough problem because they got modern power by picking up all of the religious evangelicals which didn't organize politically until Falwell, Dobson, and Robertson came around in the 1980s, and they picked up all the disenfranchised Dixiecrats who left the democratic party after LBJ passed the Civil Rights act of 1965. So the party of Nixon got replaced by the party of Bush. California vs Texas in more plain terms.

Now the middle has abandoned the GOP as it did the Democrats in the 1980s. I am not sure how the GOP might recover. McCain had a chance because he mostly rejects the above, but in order to try and win this race, he embraced the very people who he has been against in his own party for a long time. It cost him the middle and the election.

[Justadude]

Watching last night's speeches, it struck me that this will be the first President in my adult life who actually moves me when he speaks. After 8 years of "strategery" and "nucyoolar", it's a stark change in the tone of our leadership.

[teshadoh]

What I was interested in what appears to be the emergence of new "blue" states:

NC

VA

NM

CO

NV

FL

OH

These are states that not only voted for Obama, but also in the house and / or senate democrats gained seats. Also, NY Times has a great thematic mapping tool indicating the margin of victory for candidates in each county. Based on that as well as the number of democrat Congressional districts, the eastern seaboard & interior west indicate the republican's strength has significantly weakened in these places.

Is this permanent (at least in political years)? NC, VA, CO, NV & FL have experienced huge demographic shifts in the past 10+ years. Additionally NC, VA & FL have large Black populations & CO, NM & NV have large Hispanic populations. Lastly, the social conservative influence in rural areas may also be finally outnumbered in these states by suburban economic & environmental concerns.

FYI - I ignored Indiana because despite voting for Obama, it still appears to be a solidly republican state. Additionally Iowa was already being considered a 'blue' state coming into the election.

[Charlotte_native]

Republicans can do two things right now. Get angry and pissed about losing without considering why, or take a long hard look at what they've been doing (and how they've been campaigning) for the last few years. If they choose the latter they can get back to much of their ideology that I agree with. Lose the divide and conquer mentality, and TRULY put the country first -- over and above winning. If they don't they will continue to become more fringe and beholden to their extreme factions.

I hope they improve and go back to their roots and I hope they join the rest of the country in looking for solutions to our current problems and don't just try and block Obama at every turn so they can later say he's been ineffective. Right now I just want the country to heal. I think that will happen.