Where Were They Then?

It seems like the candidates have been debating and campaigning for decades, thanks to all of the media surrounding the Election '08. The news services all cover everything, of course, from the Obama's "fist bump" to McCain's uncertainty about the number of houses he owns. By now, we should all feel as though we're best friends with the candidates since there is coverage every moment of every day. But in all actuality, this race has only been going on in a serious fashion for the last year and a half. We all know where Obama and McCain stand now, ready to be thrust into the most powerful position in our country, but where were they just one year ago?

After announcing his candidacy in February of 2007,Barack Obama, a Junior Senator from Illinois, became caught up in the whirlwind of media and campaigning with the other 6 candidates for President on the democratic side. Soon, the Senator had come in second to Hillary Clinton in the national polls conducted by the most prominent news services, CNN, FOX, and MSNBC, trailing her 44 percent at 22 percent. Although there were six other candidates at this time, the front runners were clearly Clinton, Obama, and John Edwards. There were a series of debates, the closest one to a year ago being on September 26th at Dartmouth University. Also at this time, there were Straw Polls being conducted in Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire. While Obama came in third in Nevada, he won decisively in Iowa but then came in with a not so close second to Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. While Obama's campaign was trying to boost itself into the Americans' minds, he definitely gained more money in his campaign pocketbook than any of the other candidates, raising nearly $380 million by August due to small donations and the use of social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace to get the word out.

John McCain, on the other hand, was hard at work trying to weed away the other 10 candidates in his party in order to finally wrap up the nomination in March of 2008. This was quite a turn around from August and September of the previous year where in the national standings, he was regarded in third place in the race to Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson. McCain, known for being a strong supporter of President Bush's policies, being a prisoner of war in the Vietnam War, and being a Senator for the state of Arizona, McCain was a valid choice for the Republican nomination for President. However in the same Straw Polls in Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire McCain came in at a disappointing fifth in Iowa and third in both Nevada and New Hampshire. He, unlike Obama, also had some financial difficulties in 2007, and was not able to fund raise as much as his top competitors, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Eventually, McCain took more of an advantage of free media such as debates and sponsored events to get his message across to America.

Today, both candidates are miles ahead of where they were this time last year. With Obama finally picking his Vice President, Joe Biden, and McCain's choice said to come later in the week, it should be interesting to see how everything irons out in the coming months.