What are the Key Factors for Victory in the 2008 Presidential Election?

[LowlyPion]

It’s official: McCain wins Missouri
By ANDY BARR | 11/19/08 5:17 PM EST

The Associated Press on Wednesday declared John McCain the winner in Missouri, the last undecided state of the 2008 presidential election.

The race had been too close to call in the two weeks since Election Day, with McCain holding a slim lead. Heading into last weekend, McCain held a roughly 5,000-vote lead with tens of thousands of ballots remaining uncounted. The final margin of victory was 3,632 votes, out of over 2.9 million cast.

With Missouri’s 11 electoral votes going to McCain, the final electoral vote tally stands at 365 for Obama to 173 for McCain.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15802.html

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Heh, who would have thought that Obama would win Indiana, but lose Mo?

 

[leopard]

Will any other party than D and R ever stand a chance in American election?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Will any other party than D and R ever stand a chance in American election?

Not if no one will vote for them. Would you want a party to succeed if no one voted for them. Did you vote for any other party than D and R this time around?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

We always know long before the election that a third party candidate has no chance of winning.

Who were we going to vote for, Nader - the guy who has philosophical discussions with his parrot? Or Bob Barr, nutjob? Not ready for prime time Paul? If there was a viable choice, a third party candidate might have a chance [provided that he's not up against a phenomenon like Obama].

I went door to door collecting sigs to get Perot on the ballot, but in the end, he was a nut.

 

[LowlyPion]

I think for a party to take root it needs more than a cult of personality - it needs a movement.

I think that's where the more recent parties have sprung from - Perot, Anderson, Wallace, Nader. I suspect they are doomed to failure. As I recall not even Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose were able to win with just the force of his personality, though I think they managed more than Taft and the Republicans.

Given that the Republican identity has in recent decades become so entangled with the extreme Christian Right agenda - which has apparently been repudiated in this last election - I doubt that without abandoning their more extreme agendas, and accepting more reasonable standards as regards social issues like rights of gays and abortion they will only serve to marginalize themselves further.

 

[leopard]

I supported Mike Gravel.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I supported Mike Gravel.

Gravel was much too coarse for me.

 

[turbo]

Gravel was much too coarse for me.

Sandy Berger wasn't running - not much choice over coarseness.

 

[leopard]

Gravel was much too coarse for me.

I respect that, but I vote for politicians, not charismatic persons.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I respect that, but I vote for politicians, not charismatic persons.

It was a joke.

Still, like Paul and Perot, he is not Presidential material, IMO. I think he got about two votes!

 

[Count Iblis]

Will any other party than D and R ever stand a chance in American election?

Well, the R is about to disintegrate in a C and a M...