Explain Why Obama Won The Election Of 1996

Aleia Osborne

The election of 1996 caused a political upheaval because the winning candidate, Bill Clinton, didn’t have 50% of the vote for the second election in a row. Another election that caused an upheaval was the election of 2000 when Al Gore, who won the popular vote, was defeated by George W. Bush. Bush won the election by his victory in the Electoral College.

One of the reasons Obama won the presidency was because he assured the people that he was the change from Clinton that the people wanted to see. This was more important to the people than most of the issues at that time. The other candidates focused on pointing out Obama’s inexperience instead. Also the Clinton’s miscalculated and Obama began to win more delegates in the caucus states.

The McCain campaign was compared to guerilla warfare because, “They could do quick strikes and shock their foes for a day or two, but like many unsuccessful guerrilla armies, the McCain campaign could never advance on the general election battlefield. They never took new ground, never forced the Obama campaign into retreat. The best the McCain campaign could ever do was slow the Obama campaign from advancing; they never stopped them”(534).

Gawiser says, “... there is an opportunity for democrats to make 2008 a realignment election; they simply have to govern smartly and popularly. If they do that, they could see themselves in power with a 52% to 55% coalition of supporters for a decade or more…. The building blocks for a political realignment are clearly in place. The Democratic party’s advantages in fast-growing states and fast-growing demographics indicate the possibility the party could go on a run that mirrors the Republican success story from 1980 to