John McCain 2008 presidential campaign

John McCain for President 2008
Campaign
Candidate
AffiliationRepublican Party
StatusAnnounced: February 28, 2007
Presumptive nominee: March 4, 2008
Official nominee: September 3, 2008
Lost election: November 4, 2008
HeadquartersArlington, Virginia
Key peopleSteve Schmidt (operations chief)[1]
Rick Davis (campaign manager)
Robert Mosbacher (general chairman)
Tom Loeffler (co-chair)
Tim Pawlenty (co-chair)[2]
Jill Hazelbaker (spokeswoman)[3]
ReceiptsUS$370 million (December 31, 2007)
SloganCountry First
The Original Maverick
Best Prepared to Lead from Day One
Courageous Service, Experienced Leadership, Bold Solutions.
A leader we can believe in
Reform • Prosperity • Peace
Theme song"My Hero" by Foo Fighters[4]
Chant'Maverick
Drill, Baby, Drill!'
Website
JohnMcCain.com
(archived – November 4, 2008)
This article is part of a series about
John McCain
  • U.S. Senator from Arizona
  • Presidential campaigns

This article is part of a series
about
Sarah Palin
2008 U.S. presidential election
Democratic Party
Republican Party
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The 2008 presidential campaign of John McCain, the longtime senior U.S. Senator from Arizona, was launched with an informal announcement on February 28, 2007, during a live taping of the Late Show with David Letterman, and formally launched at an event on April 25, 2007. His second candidacy for the Presidency of the United States, he had previously run for his party's nomination in the 2000 primaries and was considered as a potential running mate for his party's nominee, then-Governor George W. Bush of Texas. After winning a majority of delegates in the Republican primaries of 2008, on August 29, leading up to the convention, McCain selected Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate for Vice President. Five days later, at the 2008 Republican National Convention, McCain was formally selected as the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 2008 presidential election.

McCain began the campaign as the apparent frontrunner among Republicans, with a strategy of appearing as the establishment, inevitable candidate; his campaign website featured an Associated Press article describing him as "[a] political celebrity".[5] He made substantial overtures towards elements of the Republican base that had resisted his 2000 insurgency campaign.[6] However, he soon fell behind in polls and fundraising; by July 2007 his campaign was forced to restructure its size and operations. The tide of Republican sentiment against immigration reform legislation he sponsored also led to the erosion of his lead.[6]

Towards the end of 2007, McCain began a resurgence, which was capped by his January 2008 wins in the New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida primaries. This made him the front-runner for the Republican nomination. On Super Tuesday, McCain won both the majority of states and delegates in the Republican primaries, giving him a commanding lead toward the Republican nomination. McCain clinched a majority of the delegates and became the presumptive Republican nominee with wins in several more primaries on March 4.[7] The following day, President George W. Bush endorsed McCain at the White House.

In the general election, facing Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, McCain was trailing during most of the season, only gaining a lead in national polls for a period after the Palin announcement and the 2008 Republican National Convention. The dominant issue of the campaign became the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Unable to gain traction against Obama in presidential debates, the final stages of the campaign saw McCain criticizing Obama for being a "redistributionist" and adopting symbols such as Joe the Plumber.

On November 4, 2008, McCain lost to Barack Obama in the general election, receiving 173 votes of the electoral college to Obama's 365 and gaining 46 percent of the popular vote to Obama's 53 percent. Had McCain been elected, he would have been the first president not born in a U.S. state, as he was born in the Panama Canal Zone (a U.S. territory at the time of McCain's birth). McCain would have also been the first president from the state of Arizona, and he would have become the oldest elected president. This would have surpassed Ronald Reagan's age of 69, whereas Palin would have been the first female vice president, as well as the first vice president from Alaska and outside the mainland United States, and Todd Palin would have also became the first second gentleman of the United States. These feats would be accomplished 12 years later by Joe Biden, who was 78 at the time of his election, Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, who would become the first female vice president and second gentleman respectively.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Schmidt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Pugmire, Tim (January 9, 2008). "Presidential campaigns raise volume in Minnesota". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved January 10, 2008.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference hazelbaker was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Foo Fighters slam John McCain over use of song". The Guardian. October 9, 2008.
  5. ^ Associated Press (March 1, 2007). "McCain Talks To Letterman About April Candidacy Announcement". JohnMcCain.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved August 4, 2008.
  6. ^ a b Ryan Lizza (December 17, 2007). "Return of the Nativist". The New Yorker. Retrieved December 12, 2007.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference cnn030408 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).