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sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

 

"It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional of candidates. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one."

 

Many political experts predicted that Barack Obama would lose the nomination. For one thing, he was still new to many Americans while almost everyone knew who Hillary Clinton was. Also, she had many wealthy supporters donating to her campaign. But political scientist Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia said those experts did not understand the country's mood.

 

LARRY SABATO: "They underestimated the power not just of Barack Obama, but also the yearning for change and the antipathy toward dynasty -- the idea that the Bushes and Clintons would essentially control the presidency from 1988 to potentially 2016."

 

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"Hope" and "Change" became the messages of the Obama campaign. Barack Obama won enough delegates to secure his party's nomination, which he accepted in August, shortly after his forty-seventh birthday. His choice for vice president was Joe Biden, a longtime senator from Delaware.

 

But Mr. Obama's nomination was not the biggest news story for long. The next day, John McCain had a big announcement of his own. His running mate would be Sarah Palin. The Democrats had once nominated a woman for vice president, Geraldine Ferraro, but never the Republicans. Neither party had ever nominated a woman for president.

 

AP
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in 2008

 

Sarah Palin was the forty-four-year-old governor of Alaska. Few Americans had ever heard of her until she spoke at the Republican nominating convention. She referred to herself as a "hockey mom."

 

SARAH PALIN: "I love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull. Lipstick."

 

Some women said they admired her ability to balance work and family as the mother of five children.

 

ANGEL VOGGENREITER: "I feel like she really speaks for me and represents me."

 

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During the campaign, Barack Obama raised a record amount of money for a candidate -- about seven hundred forty-five million dollars. He became the first candidate to reject the modern system of public financing of presidential elections. Instead, he accepted smaller contributions from hundreds of thousands of supporters. His campaign made extensive use of the Internet to collect donations, connect with voters and organize volunteers.

 

John McCain did not have as much money to spend. Something else also set him apart from the Democratic nominee. John McCain supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Barack Obama said he would bring the troops home from Iraq within two years of becoming president. But the top issue in the campaign was the economy. Again, Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia:

 

LARRY SABATO: "The fundamental issue in most presidential elections is the economy. It really is the economy, stupid — the本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。