A campaign odyssey that felt like forever

updated 9:44 a.m. ET Nov. 2, 2008

WASHINGTON - It was a race so long that John McCain seemed to run it twice, once as the Republican front-runner who fell, then as an insurgent on a shoestring.

Or, as Barack Obama often described an odyssey of two years: "There are babies who've been born and are now walking and talking since we started this campaign."

But even that doesn't fully capture the sprawling race for the White House, down now to a choice between Obama, a Democrat bidding to become the first black commander in chief, and John McCain, a Republican in search of one final comeback.

Images from the canvas
- A grinning Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and Republican presidential hopeful, ordering his campaign bus driven around the track at the NASCAR oval in Daytona Beach, Fla., last winter. A political consultant's nightmare — candidate's bus goes in circles, past endless rows of empty seats.

- Former Democratic Sen. John Edwards, confessing to an extramarital affair with a woman hired to make videos for his presidential run. "I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic," he explained.

- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, previewing a television commercial for reporters in Iowa and announcing, as aides looked on in disbelief, that it wouldn't air because it violated his pledge to run a positive campaign. In it, Huckabee questioned GOP rival Mitt Romney's character: "If a man is dishonest to obtain a job, he'll be dishonest on the job."

- Bill Clinton, campaigning for his wife, former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, but talking, talking, talking about himself. He used the word "I" 94 times in one 10-minute stretch in Iowa, and mentioned her only seven.

- McCain's campaign, taking advantage of Hurricane Gustav to keep an unpopular President Bush from taking the stage at the Republican National Convention. Bush instead addressed delegates via satellite from the White House. Vice President Dick Cheney appeared not at all.

- Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, bestowing the famous family's blessing on Obama when it mattered, in midwinter. Then months later, ill with brain cancer, rallying the Democratic National Convention in Denver. "The work begins anew, the hope rises again and the dream lives on," he said to the roars of thousands.

New lessons
On both sides of the political divide, the campaign taught new lessons about religion, gender and — especially — race.

Obama, a Christian, struggled for months to combat false Internet-spread rumors that he was a Muslim. Romney, a Mormon, followed an example set by John F. Kennedy, who had attempted to ease voter fears about Catholicism. "A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith," Romney said.

Gender politics was particularly tricky.

In a race for history, little that Clinton did sparked more conjecture than the moment she suddenly choked back tears in New Hampshire.

Months later, in defeat, she said proudly she and her legions of supporters had been able to put "about 18 million cracks" in the glass ceiling that has kept women from advancing to the White House.

Republican running mate Sarah Palin, only the second woman named to a national party ticket, could joke that lipstick was the only difference between a hockey mom like herself and a pit bull.

But Obama drew criticism several days later when he said McCain's call for change in Washington was like putting "lipstick on a pig."

Racial politics
Racial politics was a constant presence.

In mid-March, Obama was thrown on the defensive when it was disclosed that his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, had accused the United States of bringing on the Sept. 11 attacks by spreading terrorism. His candidacy in peril, Obama delivered a speech in Philadelphia that was an appeal to overcome racism and the black anger and white resentment it spawns.

He criticized Wright, yet said, "I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother."

Later, after Wright resurfaced, Obama decided he could, after all, disown him.

This campaign showed dramatically how a politician could go back on his pledge and profit politically.

Obama first said he would accept public financing for the fall campaign, then declined it and raised unheard of amounts.

"You didn't tell the American people the truth," said McCain, unable to keep up with the advertising onslaught.

Room for two
From the start, the Democratic race had room only for two.

"I'm in it to win it," the former first lady had said in entering the campaign.

So, of course, was Obama as he joined her in a race no Founding Father could have imagined — a black man against a woman, a presidential nomination the prize.

He promised change, she offered experience.

The long war in Iraq was the dominant Democratic issue then, and that helped Obama.

In the Senate in 2002, Clinton had voted to authorize the invasion, determined to show that a woman was tough enough to be commander in chief. Obama, a mere state legislator in Illinois, had given a speech opposing the war.

That difference was his early ticket, and Iowa activists punched it for him in the state's caucuses, the first test of the campaign.

Clinton salvaged her candidacy in New Hampshire, and the long slog was on.

From the start, racial and other differences were striking. Obama ran up outsized victories across the South. The former first lady recovered smartly as the economy began sliding and the industrial states began voting, but it was too late.

Obama's money, organization and eloquence eclipsed hers.

Dream Ticket?

Not.

The former first lady was interested but Obama looked elsewhere. Instead, he turned to Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a veteran of three decades in Congress, well versed in foreign policy, to be his running mate on a ticket to change America.

The convention ended in spectacular fashion, more than 80-thousand jammed into Denver's Mile High Stadium on a perfect summer night, and Obama pledged an end to the "broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush."

MORE FROM

Section Front

Obama campaign head gets big book deal Officials turn down Franken request Joe the Plumber to become war correspondent Franken lead at 49 with absentees left to count Minn. Senate winner won't be known in 2008 First Read: 'Twas the seventh week of recount... Franken opens first lead in Minn. Senate race Mom of Palin daughter's boyfriend arrested Minn. court weighs rejected absentee ballots Minnesota panel reviews disputed ballots Section Front   Add headlines to your news reader: