McCain’s election night at Ulstein senior high school.
At the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, we, the two “social science English classes”
were gathered at the auditorium in UVS to watch the American presidential election. After some
pizza, soda, cake and candy, we were ready for a long night. Up until this night, we had learned a lot
about American election and the two candidates; what they stood for and what their party
represented; John McCain for the Republican, and Barack Obama for the Democratic Party.
“Our man” for the night was Republican candidate John McCain. He believes in keeping the taxes low,
to reward hard work. He wants to create millions of good American jobs, ensure the nation’s energy
security and get the government’s spending and budget in order. He also wants to continue Bush’s
policy on the war on terrorism.
After the seven first states had closed, the race was close. Obama had won 4 states, to McCain’s 3.
Obama was in the lead with 54 electoral votes, while McCain had just 31. This is because the states
have electoral votes in proportion with the population of the state. Some states are therefore more
important to win than others. Regretfully, not all results from all states are listed, due to laxness
among some pupils… .
Vermont:
Barack Obama won with 68 % to 31%
Kentucky:
McCain won with 57 % to 41%
The polls in Kentucky were open from 6 am to 6 pm on Election Day. Kentucky has been pretty much
a “red”, republican state since the 1950s. In this election McCain won all of the 8 electoral votes. He
beat Obama 58% to 41%. McCain had 1, 043, 264 votes in Kentucky.
Indiana:
Obama won with 50 % to 49%
Obama won in Indiana with 50% of the votes, to McCain’s 49%. Obama had 1, 367, 503 votes, while
McCain had 1, 341, 667 votes. Obama got all of Indiana’s 11 electoral votes. This was the first time a
democratic had won the state of Indiana since 1964. It was also the fifth time a Democratic had won
the state since 1900. Historically, Indiana has been a Republican state. Indiana’s polls closed at 6 pm,
and traditionally the state has been among the first to report their results, but this year the race was
so close that they didn’t declare Obama the president-elect until 6 am.
Virginia:
Obama won with 53% to 46%
This was a change from the previous presidential election in 2004, where Bush won the state.
South Carolina: McCain won with 54% to 45%
South Carolina is counted as a southern state, and has a long tradition in voting republican. This was also the
result after this election. John McCain won with 54% against Obama’s 45 %. South Carolina is a safe win for the
republicans, and was already before the election pointed out as one of McCain’s winning states.
Georgia:
McCain 52 % to 47%
McCain won this state with 52% over Barack Obama’s 47%. As a southern state, it was not a big surprise that
the majority voted for the republican candidate, John McCain. Southern states have a tradition in voting for the
conservative Republican Party.
Florida:
Obama won with 51% to 48 %
Florida was during this election one of the battleground states. This means that the outcome of the votes was
very uncertain, it could be democratic or it could be republican. It was hard to tell. The finale outcome was
democratic, even though it was very close. Obama won with 51% vs. McCain’s 48%. This was an important
state to win, and Obama put in a great effort to win this state, and it paid off. The fact that Obama won was
also a loss for the republicans, since Bush beat Kerry here with 5 % points in the 2004 election.
Republican
Democratic
Change
Alabama
Connecticut
Delaware
D.C.
Louisiana
Minnesota
Nebraska
New Mexico
Massachusetts
Michigan
Missouri, 49.4 vs. 49.3
Mississippi
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Wyoming
New Hampshire
New Jersey
Tennessee
It was called for Bush in 2004.
North Carolina
In 2004, it was called for Bush.
Colorado
It was called for George Bush in 2004
Texas
Arkansas
Alabama
Arizona
Kansas
Idaho
In Idaho it was republican McCain that won the election. This is a state that has not supported the democrats
since 1988, and that may be some of the reason. Some people also mean that he won because of his running
mate Sarah Palin. “Having Sarah Palin on the ticket… has definitely upped the enthusiasm for republicans to get
up and work” said Idaho Republican Party chairman Norm Semanko.
Minnesota
Minnesota has not supported the republicans for 36 years. The run was close in 2000, and in 2004, and this got
the hope up for the republicans, but they lost this time to. McCain did all he could to win in this state. He used
millions of dollars on TV ads. But he still did not win. “I don’t think it’s ridiculous to think that Republicans can
win here; but this is a state that unquestionably favors Democrats in presidential elections,” Republican
Pawlenty said.
Utah
It was no surprise that Utah voted for McCain because Utah was one of George W. Bushs strongest states both
in 2004 and in 2000. Utah has voted republican every year since 1964.
North Dakota
The Republicans won this state partially because the democrats gave up on it pretty early. This might have
been because the republicans have won it on every year since 1964.
Why did McCain lose?
There were several reasons contributing to McCain’s loss, not only one. One of the main reasons is that he did
a pretty lousy job with his campaign, and “advertising” for himself, as opposed to Obama, who did a really good
job there. Obama used the Internet more extensively than his opponents; he seemed to appeal to larger
groups of the electorate, especially people who had not voted before (often young people or people who did
not feel that their vote mattered, as e.g. African Americans). It is also possible that the fervor for Obama
abroad also mattered slightly. It is also been said that McCain didn’t make a good decision when choosing
Sarah Palin as vice president, as many people thought that she was incapable of doing a good job and she
alienated moderates in the Republican Party. There is also the fact that he is an old white man, which has been
the traditional American president over the years, to consider. After Bush’s presidency, which many considered
a disaster, most Americans are ready for change, and Obama gave the voters what they wanted to believe that
he could make that change, not McCain. Obama was clearer in his solutions to the economic crisis and most of
the colored population in the USA voted for Obama together with a fair portion of the white population.