March 2008 Issue
The Top 5 upsets of the 2008 Election season…so
far.
Keeping in line with this past year’s college football season, the battle
in the race for the presidency has experienced similar shockers, surprises,
and out outright comebacks that match the level of an Appalachian State victory
over the University of Michigan. Here is Club Relaford’s top 5 upsets
of this year’s campaign season.
5.) Sen. Barack Obama claims victory
in the Iowa Caucus
January 3, 2008
Considered the underdog during the majority of the campaign season, Obama was
generating a growing excitement among college students, intellectuals, and
young professionals with a message of change through unification.
He seemed to take his message a step further than Sen. John Edwards’ of
two Americas (one rich, one poor). He seemed to invoke unification of support
for the country as a whole for both parties sake.
Sen. Barack Obama
Although his name was beginning to circulate, he was still
down in the polls, ironically causing many traditional African
American leaders to come out in
support of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). Fmr. Ambassador Andrew Young even stated
that Obama should wait until 2016, claiming that the younger Obama didn’t
have the organizational reach of the Clinton machine.
Black America, especially among the baby boomer generation
was not quite convinced that a man of color had a winning
shot. After spending months on end in Iowa,
(Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) even moved his entire family to the state) Clinton
was leading in the polls in the predominately Caucasian state.
By January 3rd, Obama won by 7.4% giving his candidacy the
legitimacy it desperately needed, beginning what many have
dubbed “a movement.” 4.) Mike Huckabee
Is it possible that a guy from tiny Hope, Arkansas could actually win the presidency? …Not
a chance. (Blackberrying Bill Clinton!) When former Arkansas Governor Mike
Huckabee announced his candidacy for president on NBC’s Meet the Press
in January 2007, it almost fell on deaf ears.
At one time Mike Huckabee’s name was considered an afterthought with
the likes of Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Rep.
Duncan Hunter (R-CA)…(who?)
Gov. Mike Huckabee
Well, all of that changed when he won the Republican Iowa
Caucus in convincing fashion and later racked up Louisiana,
Georgia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kansas,
and his home state of Arkansas during “Super Tuesday” and the weeks
after.
But by the time he went on a hot streak with the help of
long time action star Chuck Norris, it was too little, too
late as John McCain all but sewed up the
nomination with his string if big state victories. Nevertheless, the emergence
of Mike Huckabee will be one remembered in the GOP for years to come. 3.) Hillary
wins the Granite (New Hampshire)
Coming off of a devastating 3rd place finish in Iowa to
fmr. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) and Sen. Barack Obama, media
reports were claiming that her campaign’s
infrastructure was in the midst of crumbling. All of the polls from Gallop
to Mason/Dixon predicted a convincing Obama victory in New Hampshire. In a
sit down Q&A session before the primary, Sen. Clinton began to choke up
when a voter asked, “How are you holding up?” Sen. Clinton responded, “It’s
not easy.” 
Sen. Hillary Clinton
This scene, played in continuous rotation on the major
news networks, gained Clinton sympathy from women voters
as well as exposed her warmer side (which
some observers felt was lacking).
Clinton would go on to defeat Barack Obama 39 % to 36%.
Sen. Clinton’s New Hampshire victory would prove that the race for
the Democratic nomination would not be an easy battle. It also created a
credibility gap between the pollsters and the voters.
2.) McCain’s Revival
In August 2007, the presidential campaign of Sen. John
McCain (R-AZ) was all but finished. Many of his top
advisers left the senator for dead after they
were asked to stay on staff without pay. Observers joked that McCain’s “Straight
Talk Express” was trying to run without an engine.
During this time, fmr. New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was
the national front-runner, former Senator and Law & Order star Fred Thompson was expected to bring
a “Reaganesque” quality to the race that never developed. And fmr.
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s popularity remained steady.
McCain’s main hindrance was finances (or lack thereof).
The irony at the time was that he was the main architect
of the new campaign finance reform
laws that tightened how much money one can receive for their campaign,
a policy despised by the conservative wing of the Republican
Party.
Sen. John McCain
But patience, strong self-confidence, and a series of untimely events
led to McCain’s resurrection. By January, McCain was gaining support
among independents as Giuliani went M.I.A. (see below) and Romney addressed
questions about his
Mormon faith.
By February, Giuliani had left the race and Giuliani, with
large support from the moderates in his party obliterated
the competition during “Super
Tuesday.” Soon after, Mitt Romney dropped out of the race, leaving
a delegate short Huckabee on his own to court conservatives. Now, McCain
has
received a varied number of endorsements from the likes of California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to fmr. President George H.W. Bush.
If he can rally the conservatives and unify his party,
he will be able to put up an epic fight against the
chosen Democratic nominee this fall.
1.) Rudy Giuliani’s “Florida
Strategy”
In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, New York City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani was considered by many as a national hero. He was a publicist’s
dream as TIME magazine anointed him “Man of the Year” and images
of him side-by-side with President Bush in the days after the attacks made
him an international figure.
Many publications speculated that he was probably going to be tapped for a
cabinet position during Bush’s second term. Although a cabinet position
was never offered, Giuliani was still known as “America’s Mayor.”
B y 2007, he was ready to take this image out for a spin on the road to the
presidency. He started out with high hopes, as he was the clear Republican
national frontrunner. He was bringing moderates and independents to his camp
as a social liberal, yet sparking conversation among conservatives on his aggressive
foreign policy and claims of tax-cuts and conservative governing.
Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Giuliani’s personal life is one that could ruin any presidential run.
There were claims by the media that he was estranged from his adult son and
his daughter was all but hiding her support for Sen. Barack Obama. It also
didn’t help that Giuliani is with wife # 3.
But of all of the personal drama, none seemed to slow down his campaign. None,
until the name Bernard Kerik resurfaced in the news. Kerik was President Bush’s
original choice to succeed Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of Homeland Security.
After it was revealed that Kerik had employed an illegal immigrant as his children’s
nanny, Bush withdrew Kerik’s name.
Giuliani and Kerik had been friends when Kerik was New York City’s Chief
of Police. Keriks dirty laundry was beginning to rub off on Giliani. With that
said Giuliani and his advisers devised the “Florida Strategy,” in
which he would refrain from campaigning in the early primary states of Iowa
and New Hampshire and instead put all of his marbles in winning the delegate
rich Florida. He believed that this would be the start of a state-by-state
conquest thereafter.
Political pundits were claiming that it would either prove to be a move of
political genius or common stupidity. By the time of the Florida Primary, Iowa,
New Hampshire, and South Carolina had already given other candidates (such
as John McCain) a chance to gain traction, leaving Giuliani’s name out
of the headlines for as long as three weeks. In a presidential campaign that’s
an eternity. He would place third behind McCain and Romney and would soon thereafter
end his campaign and endorse McCain.
Afterwards, experts and novices called the “Florida Strategy” one
of the biggest campaign blunders of all time.
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