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2008 was unquestionably an historic year in US political history, as the country elected its first African-American President, Barack Obama. Building on the Democrats' midterm congressional victories from 2006, and coupled to the 2008 financial crisis erupting shortly before the end of the campaign, Obama won a landslide victory that came with coattails on every other level of government. Turnout was high by American standards, with much media attention on increased African-American turnout, but Hispanic voters also turned out and turned to the Democrats in record numbers, with the departing George W. Bush's former securing of a large share of Hispanic vote for the Republicans melting away into history. This is visible in the Democrats' impressive breakthroughs in the southwestern states in the House of Representatives, and the fact that the Republicans almost lost their majority in the Texas state house.

Obama held all the states John Kerry had won in 2004, picked up predictable swing states like Florida, Colorado and Ohio, but also pushed into new territory for the party: Virginia voted Democratic for the first time since Lyndon Johnson's landslide in 1964, North Carolina narrowly delivered its electoral votes, and to the surprise of everyone, Indiana also went blue. At the same time, the usually reliable bellwether of Missouri narrowly went Republican, foreshadowing that some states' position as solid or swing states was shifting.

All the same, to the Democratic Party this election seemed like the end of history. The nightmare of the Bush years was over, the racism of America's past had seemingly been defeated with the election of Obama (even if his narrow primary victory over Hillary Clinton had disappointed some who had hoped it would instead be sexism that would be slain) and the party was in the strongest position it had been in since the 1960s. The Democrats held all three estates of the federal government and a veto-proof two-thirds majority in the Senate. From their perspective, Good had triumphed over Evil, the age of change had begun, and clearly the only way the Republicans would ever get back into power, many years hence, would be if they moderated and shifted with American public opinion.

But that's the thing about history - it never has a last page. There's never a neat ending. It's just one thing happening after another.

During the 2008 campaign, Republican presidential candidate John McCain, desperate for a 'game changer' against Obama's poll lead, had hoped to both shore up support with the conservative Republican base (who saw him as too liberal) and possibly appeal to female voters disappointed at Clinton's primary defeat. He attempted this by selecting Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his vice-presidential candidate on the basis of one phone call. Palin's inexperience and gaffes were mocked by many, but she proved very popular with the base at least--and McCain thus may have inadvertently catalysed a conservative revival. Just a few short years later, the idea that states like Mississippi, West Virginia or Arkansas could be splashed with blue would seem to consign the map above to some distant past century, not less than a decade before the time of this post's writing...

Description
2008 was unquestionably an historic year in US political history, as the country elected its first African-American President, Barack Obama. Building on the Democrats' midterm congressional victories from 2006, and coupled to the 2008 financial crisis erupting shortly before the end of the campaign, Obama won a landslide victory that came with coattails on every other level of government. Turnout was high by American standards, with much media attention on increased African-American turnout, but Hispanic voters also turned out and turned to the Democrats in record numbers, with the departing George W. Bush's former securing of a large share of Hispanic vote for the Republicans melting away into history. This is visible in the Democrats' impressive breakthroughs in the southwestern states in the House of Representatives, and the fact that the Republicans almost lost their majority in the Texas state house.

Obama held all the states John Kerry had won in 2004, picked up predictable swing states like Florida, Colorado and Ohio, but also pushed into new territory for the party: Virginia voted Democratic for the first time since Lyndon Johnson's landslide in 1964, North Carolina narrowly delivered its electoral votes, and to the surprise of everyone, Indiana also went blue. At the same time, the usually reliable bellwether of Missouri narrowly went Republican, foreshadowing that some states' position as solid or swing states was shifting.

All the same, to the Democratic Party this election seemed like the end of history. The nightmare of the Bush years was over, the racism of America's past had seemingly been defeated with the election of Obama (even if his narrow primary victory over Hillary Clinton had disappointed some who had hoped it would instead be sexism that would be slain) and the party was in the strongest position it had been in since the 1960s. The Democrats held all three estates of the federal government and a veto-proof two-thirds majority in the Senate. From their perspective, Good had triumphed over Evil, the age of change had begun, and clearly the only way the Republicans would ever get back into power, many years hence, would be if they moderated and shifted with American public opinion.

But that's the thing about history - it never has a last page. There's never a neat ending. It's just one thing happening after another.

During the 2008 campaign, Republican presidential candidate John McCain, desperate for a 'game changer' against Obama's poll lead, had hoped to both shore up support with the conservative Republican base (who saw him as too liberal) and possibly appeal to female voters disappointed at Clinton's primary defeat. He attempted this by selecting Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his vice-presidential candidate on the basis of one phone call. Palin's inexperience and gaffes were mocked by many, but she proved very popular with the base at least--and McCain thus may have inadvertently catalysed a conservative revival. Just a few short years later, the idea that states like Mississippi, West Virginia or Arkansas could be splashed with blue would seem to consign the map above to some distant past century, not less than a decade before the time of this post's writing...