ABSTRACT
By 2008, George W. Bush’s presidency seemed to implode. Voter fatigue with the Bush administration, the ongoing Iraq War, and the Great Recession propelled the Democratic ticket. In 2003, when the US invaded Iraq, Barack Obama was an Illinois state senator, but he had voiced his opposition to the military action, which burnished his credentials as an antiwar candidate, and he promised to draw down US troop levels in Iraq. He won traditional Republican redoubts like Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico, and North Carolina. For his running mate, Obama went with a safer selection, Joe Biden, a former rival for the nomination who had run for the presidency once before in 1988. Obama’s appeal was undeniable as well: he ran with the possibility of becoming the first African-American president, and voters could feel a sense of destiny when they pulled the lever—or pushed the button—for him.
