Within moments of the announcement, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin made an explicit appeal to the disappointed supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton by praising not only Mrs. Clinton but also the only other woman in American history who has been on a presidential ticket, Geraldine A. Ferraro.
The closeness of the polls suggests a narrow win by Senator John McCain is a real possibility - partly because there has been so much underlying nervousness among Democrats in Denver this week; and partly just out of common political prudence. So, why might McCain win on November 4? I think there are five main reasons to consider.
Memories are short; history dims. The conventional wisdom is that Barack Obama is the first candidate to address 75,000 rapturous fans in a sports stadium to accept the nomination of his party to become President of the United States. He was not.
The framework for a partial sell-off had already been laid out in the Owen Report, which the Government commissioned when it began work on the sale last year. A similar sell-off had recently gone ahead in Queensland without a hitch. By Wednesday night, the partial sell-off had become the Government’s least worst option.
“I absolutely and totally support Brendan Nelson,” the former treasurer said. “He has been elected as the leader of the Liberal Party to take the Liberal Party to the next election and to win the next election, and he will have my total and utter support in doing that.
The gaffe, made during a news conference in Sydney, involved the Opposition Leader saying he would be “very happy” if former treasurer Peter Costello changed his mind about seeking the leadership of the Liberal Party. Liberal MPs assumed Dr Nelson was opening the way to step aside for Mr Costello should he decide to stay in parliament.
After weeks of escalating complaints about its emissions trading scheme, the Rudd Government has agreed to work with the major polluting industries to find a fairer way of distributing compensation in the early years of the scheme. The Government had been warned that its proposed formula might seriously harm the economy.
As his lawyers called for the sacking of Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty and the judicial inquiry into the bungled inquiry prepared to interview its first senior member of the Howard government - former attorney-general Philip Ruddock - Dr Haneef said the AFP had taken too long to clear his name.
All data points to an enormous Obama win. If the Democratic candidate doesn’t win in the current circumstances, it would be a miracle. So what’s making a miracle possible, especially given, as I believe, that Obama is a brilliant politician? It seems the American people still harbour doubts about him.
Senator Obama’s acceptance speech was choreographed on a scale that easily trumped the last time a presidential candidate accepted a nomination in a big stadium setting. But what remains utterly impressive about the Obama campaign is its organisational abilities. Despite some grumbling, the event came off without a hitch.