United States presidential election, 2008 (President McCain)

The United States presidential election of 2008 was held on Tuesday November 4, 2008 to elect the 44th president of the United States of America. It was the 56th quadrennial election for President and Vice President. John McCain, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. McCain's Vice President, George W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the Democrats nominated Hillary Rodham Clinton, Junior Senator from New York and former First Lady, and the first female nominee for a major party ticket.

Bush capitalized on McCain's popularity while the primary issues of the campaign were health care, education, foreign policy and taxation. The result of the election was a third consecutive lopsided Republican presidential election victory, and shared similarities with the Republican victory of George H. W. Bush in 1988.

Democratic Nomination
After Hillary Clinton a former first lady and Senator from New York declared her candidacy for president most pundits declared that we would be thrust straight into the general election which would be a race between Clinton and Vice President Bush. These theories were strengthened when Clinton's only possible competitor popular junior senator from Illinois Barack Obama declined to run until at least 2012 and only if Democrats lost the election.

Candidates:
 * Hillary Clinton
 * John Edwards
 * Bill Richardson
 * Joe Biden
 * Dennis Kucinich
 * Chris Dodd
 * Mike Gravel

Clinton led in fund raising over all other candidates combined by 3-1 in the first months of the campaign by raising 16 million dollars to her opponents 5 million dollars. Clinton continued to have massive leads in fundraising until Super Tuesday.
 * Before the Primaries:

Democratic Primaries and Caucuses
Clinton opened at the Iowa caucuses by winning there by 20 points over her closest rival John Edwards. After her win in Iowa Clinton went on to win every pre Super Tuesday contest except for South Carolina were Edwards triumphed. On Super Tuesday Clinton won every primary and caucus and was soon victorious when every other candidate dropped out of the race to endorse her days later.

Republican Nomination
Due to the popularity of the McCain administration Vice president won the Republican nomination unopposed.

Candidates:
 * Vice president George W Bush