A campaign for the ages, tilting toward Dems

The presidency
Tuesday's election caps a nearly two-year campaign unprecedented in many ways, merely unusual in others.

"The candidates are more interesting. The media is bigger. The technology is better. Participation has increased dramatically," said Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator from Nebraska who once aspired to the presidency himself. "This is the first global campaign that the United States has had. People will always remember this as an extremely important election."

From the start, the race was different: It was the first since 1952 in which neither a president nor a vice president competed.

The Democratic primary was excruciatingly long, with historic and improbable characters: Obama, a black upstart Illinois senator, against a former first lady turned New York senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

McCain, at 72 once the GOP's most vocal scold, early on was the favorite for the Republican nomination. His campaign all but imploded, then he came back to overcome multiple opponents and win the party's nomination. He chose the first woman for the national GOP ticket, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Racism, sexism and ageism all colored the campaign, to varying degrees.

Interest appeared exceptionally high across the globe, particularly in Obama. More than 200,000 people turned out to attend an Obama speech in Berlin when he made a trip abroad to bolster his foreign policy credentials. His U.S. crowds also were gargantuan; 75,000 in Portland, Ore., before he was the nominee, more than 100,000 in Denver just a week before the general election.

An estimated 42.4 million people tuned in to watch Obama and McCain accept their parties' nominations.

More voters were projected to cast ballots before Election Day than ever before; Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the early voting in key states.

Fundraising and spending were off the charts, too.

McCain and Obama amassed $1 billion combined over the course of their candidacies.

Video Election night viewer guide Nov. 1: After following the presidential race for nearly two years, it all comes to a head on Tuesday. As we await the results, NBC’s Chuck Todd offers an guide of what to watch for on election night. Today show

Obama reversed a previous pledge to stay in the public financing system for the general election if his opponent did. Thus, he became the first to reject taxpayer money, raising $641 million from a breathtaking 3.2 million donors. That dealt what's almost certain to be a fatal blow to the post-Watergate-era system for presidential campaigns. McCain, for his part, collected more than $250 million in contributions, and accepted $84 million in public funds.

Obama took the next step after Howard Dean's embrace of the Internet in 2004, creating a remarkable cyber-networking tool that brought in legions of new voters.

He expanded the Electoral College playing field by pouring advertising and manpower into Republican bastions like Indiana and North Carolina.

Beyond any previous year, the Internet amplified the feeding frenzy nature of the media and gave campaigns new tools, including YouTube videos, partisan and nonpartisan blogs, and social networking sites like Facebook.

Both campaigns also got burned and, as a result, curtailed the candidates' non-scripted interactions with reporters. Authenticity and spontaneity were sacrificed.

The Senate
No matter how the presidential race plays out, Democrats are poised for gains in the 100-seat Senate. They currently have the barest of majorities — 51 seats under their control, including two occupied by independents. Several pickups are likely, even if Democrats fall short of getting the magic 60 needed to stop filibusters.

Democrats are overwhelmingly favored to pick up GOP-held seats in Virginia, New Mexico and Colorado, where Republicans are retiring. And many Republican incumbents running for re-election are in difficult races, including Ted Stevens of Alaska, convicted this past week on seven corruption counts.

No Democratic seats appear in jeopardy.

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