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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Top 10 Political Surprises/Shockers of 2008

10) Blagojevich still picks Obama's replacement.

In spite of being urged by all current Senate Democrats and a wide variety of Illinois politicians, Governor Blagojevich has still appointed Burris to fill the vacancy of Barack Obama's Illinois Senate Seat. How will this fun game of chicken between Blago and Reid resolve? We'll find out in 2009.

9) Crist too busy to campaign with McCain because he was in Disney World

Gov. Crist of Florida played a major role in helping McCain secure the GOP nomination early. In spite of this, he played a very "hands-off" role during the general election in one of the most hilarious and glaring attempts of a state governor to distance himself from the national GOP as much as possible. While Obama ultimately didn't need Florida's electoral votes, the unenthusiastic and inactive support of Crist for McCain helped Obama win the state.

8) Gov. Sarah Palin selected as McCain's running mate

Historians will be scratching their heads on this one for decades to come. Obama's pick of Biden seemed almost surprisingly safe if not a bit boring (old white guy with lots of experience and hair plugs). Palin held up poorly in the light of interviews with the national media. Whatever McCain was thinking when he picked Gov. Palin, the gamble failed miserably, with Palin's favorable ratings plummeting rapidly after her introduction to the American people at large.

7) Gov. Eliot Spitzer spent HOW MUCH on those prostitutes?

Former New York Governor and once considered a rising Democratic star, Eliot Spitzer had to resign in humiliation when it was revealed he violated some of the very laws he had helped push as Attorney General. But that wasn't the story that dominated the headlines and late night talk shows. What puzzled and confused millions of Americans was how on earth can someone spend $80,000 on prostitutes?

6) Obama Wins Iowa Caucus, Presumptive Front-Runner Hillary Clinton comes in 3rd place

Did they forget to plug in the Clinton machine after dusting it off from the attic? Obama had the luxury of being from a neighboring state, but rural Iowans aren't exactly the type of people who love big city Chicago politicians. Obama's win was remarkable for two reasons: 1) He out-organized the Clinton machine, and would continue to do so in many future contests. 2) A racial minority candidate won an overwhelmingly white state, drastically changing the national landscape and giving Obama a surge in national polls, especially as African Americans abandoned Clinton.

5) Obama Advertising Blitz... in video games?

In one of the more unusual moves of the campaign, Obama and his team bought advertisement on XBox360 and XBoxLive, including in-game ads for games like Guitar Hero and Madden NFL 09. This brilliant move helped remind gamers that they're supposed to vote or something.

4) "Somebody's Putting Something in his Metamucil": Suspending the Campaign and The McCain-David Letterman feud

In another one of McCain's gambles, he offered to rush back to Washington and postpone the first presidential debate to quickly pass what would become the TARP bailout plan. Outside of alienating his own base politically on the issue of the bailout, McCain also made a very public enemy with David Letterman, who did keep a lightheartedness about it, but seemed genuinely frustrated and angry with the Republican nominee for ditching the show. Hell hath no fury as David Letterman scorned! Probably only second to Saturday Night Live in pop-culture influences on the election, Letterman's ongoing teasing of the nominee and its frequent replaying on cable news networks only added to the perception that the move was nothing more than a politically-motivated publicity stunt.

3) Saturday Night Live: Tina Fey is a Star

Need I explain this one? The Obama, Biden, and McCain impersonations were tolerable, but Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin only solidified perceptions that Palin was completely unqualified to be president. The fact that they were able to use Palin's words, verbatim, in some of the skits only brought more attention to how awful her interviews truly were.

2) Obama limits McCain to victories in only 4 states with 10 or more electoral votes.

Obama did not just win some substantial states that have been Republican by large margins for decades, but the campaign limited McCain to victories in a mere 4 states with 10 or more electoral votes: Arizona, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas. Obama's most remarkable pickups of Virginia (13 votes), North Carolina (15 votes), and Indiana (11 votes) were worth a net total of 39 electoral votes, more than any individual state barring California. Expect Obama to expand his efforts in these states as well as Georgia, Missouri, Montana, and possibly Arizona after his trouncing of McCain in neighboring southwestern states.

1) Obama wins the NE-2 Electoral Vote

Days after the election was over, Obama picked up one final electoral vote from Nebraska's 2nd district which includes the city of Omaha. Since Maine and Nebraska have passed laws splitting their electoral vote by district, neither state had split their electoral votes until now. Certainly by no means did he need this vote, but it simply shows just how remarkable and successful his strategy was,

posted by brinmat at 2:30 AM

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Comments

I think the biggest shock of 2008 is that Ahmnodt Heare did not receive any write-in votes in 2008.


posted by maditude on 01/01/2009 @ 7:20 PM

McCain can't show his own tits, he can't raise his arms up that far.


posted by thewiz on 01/01/2009 @ 6:49 PM

Too bad they were yelling at McCain and not his wife. lol


posted by lucky_num1 on 01/01/2009 @ 6:48 PM

I would say that when McCain went to Sturgis bike rally and offered his wife to be Ms. Buffalo Chip. And the crowd yelled, "Show us your tits!!!"


posted by thewiz on 01/01/2009 @ 6:42 PM

lol Lucky.


posted by brinmat on 01/01/2009 @ 6:37 PM

I think that Bush's interview with a reporter on his religious beliefs were a big shocker for me. I hate to admit this but I agreed with him on a bunch of things and I wish that he would have come forward with his views on the subject earlier to alleviate peoples fears. I don't think that he is the religious nut that I used to ... now I think he is just a plain nut. lol


posted by lucky_num1 on 01/01/2009 @ 6:35 PM

Well, thank you for your comment Anonymous. Perhaps we can get this site debating politics instead of everyone's personal affairs again. If you don't like the list, then what would you change? And yes, there's many "top 10 lists" around now that it's the end of the year, but I've seen few that even include Blago, Spitzer, or the video game advertising. Many of them are clearly obvious picks, and yes, after such a strong Democratic year, I would imagine more shockers went for the Democrats and not the Republicans. I also excluded some of the popular choices like the economic collapse (because I really don't think that was a shocker as much as an inevitability) and Hurricane Gustav interrupting the Republican convention. Like I said, if you don't like the list, what would you change?


posted by brinmat on 01/01/2009 @ 6:32 PM

the fact that BRIN took almost all of this information from others is not lost on those of us that can read and think, the other problem is that most of it is shear left wing, I'm ok and you are not drivel. If one were toread this article with no knowledge of the real facts they would think the lord Obama walked on water.


posted by Anonymous on 01/01/2009 @ 2:00 PM