A blog written by Manchester College students studying the 2008 presidential campaign.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Final Sprint to the End

Both candidates were very busy on the final day before the election squeezing in last minute visits to the states they deemed as winnable. Obama began in Jacksonville this morning, attended events in Virginia and North Carolina, passed through Indiana, and will end in Chicago for a huge rally. He seemed to be moving comfortably to a victory tomorrow. McCain, on the other hand, still behind in the polls, had a much busier day of campaigning. He also began in the sunshine state attempting to hold on those 27 electoral votes. He then travelled to Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Nevada, and then will finally end in his home state of Arizona. Honestly, I have not seen McCain campaigning this fervently during the majority of the election process. Last minute campaign cramming will not be, in my opinion, enough to save him. Of course, speeches and rallies are not the only final strategies of the McCain campaign. Voters in Pennsylvania are being reminded of Hillary Clinton's remarks against Obama during the primaries and campaign ads continue to run, questioning Obama's relationship with his Reverend Jeremiah Wright. McCain needs to take his loss gracefully. These last minute attacks on Obama will just worsen public opinion of him. I have accepted he is very likely to loose the election. Even if he wins all of the swing states that are essentially tied right now in the polls, he still will not have enough electoral votes to win. I have felt for awhile now and continue to feel that if he would have changed his strategy after the first presidential debate and campaigned a little harder instead of coasting comfortably to what he may have thought was going to be a victory for him, he would not be in the current predicament.

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