The Campaign of Barack Obama

The Campaign of Barack Obama

Introduction

In many ways, Barack Obama is a transformational politician, and all expectations are that he will be a similarly transformational United States president. Regardless of one's political beliefs or affiliations, every political follower has been extremely impressed with the rhetorical, political and organizational talents of the president-elect. One of the areas in which Obama soared far above his Democratic primary and Republican presidential rivals is in how well he leveraged the power of technology.

Use of technology is nothing new in politics - sophisticated databases and computer systems have been in place for decades to increase the efficiency and sophistication of polling, direct mail and other traditional tactics. In 2004, Democratic presidential primary candidate Howard Dean was the first to launch a successful campaign largely online, and his early success in fundraising, communicating to and organizing supporters was replicated and enhanced in almost every campaign that followed. President George W. Bush's two presidential campaigns were renowned for their use of highly sophisticated databases to manage robust and targeted get-out-the-vote efforts. But, while Dean and Bush helped politicians understand the power of technology and the online channel, most campaign managers still viewed it as an accessory to an integrated campaign.

Barrack's Presidential Campaign

On February 10, 2007, Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois. On June 3, 2008, he secured enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election. He was the first African-American in American History to be nominated by a major party. On November 4, 2008, Obama won the presidential election to become the 44th President of the United States, succeeding George W. Bush.

Obama announced his candidacy at the Old State Capitol building, where Abraham Lincoln delivered his "House Divided" speech in 1858. Obama was the main challenger, along with John Edwards, to Democratic Party frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton for much of 2007. His initial victory in the Iowa caucus helped bring him to national prominence from a crowded field of Democratic challengers, and his campaign began to trade a series of hard-fought state wins with expected frontunner Clinton in January, a trend that continued through Super Tuesday, in which Obama had great success in large rural states and Clinton was nearly as dominant in high-population coastal areas. Obama continued to have remarkable fundraising and electoral success in February, winning all 11 state and territorial-level contests after Super Tuesday and "chipping away" at Clinton's core supporters in key states.Obama won the Vermont primary, however ended up losing Ohio and Rhode Island thus losing six delegates of his lead. Obama then won the Wyoming caucus and Mississippi primary and later lost the Pennsylvania primary.

After Obama won the North Carolina primary and narrowly lost the Indiana primary, superdelegates began to endorse Obama in greater numbers. Despite losing West Virginia and Kentucky by wide margins, Obama's win in Oregon gave him an ...