Senator Barack Obama significantly outspent Senator John McCain in August as the two campaigns ramped up their general election fight, with the Obama campaign spending $53 million that month, $32 million of which went to advertising. That compared with the $41 million spent by the McCain campaign, $23 million of which went to advertising.
It would be easy to be confused about which national convention was really the gathering of the opposition. As Senator John McCain accepted the Republican nomination for president, he and his supporters sounded the call of insurgents seeking to topple the establishment, even though their party heads the establishment.
This week was a time for new beginnings. In the US, Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party nomination, while Republican John McCain the little-known Sarah Palin as his running mate. In Australia, the Liberal leadership speculation entered an even more confusing stage, while the Labor Party outlined a number of new policies.
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.
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.
Senator Barack Obama long ago proved his skills as an orator. He went further on Thursday night, using his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention to add detail to his promises of hope and showcase a new theme that could find resonance with Democrats, new and old, and a broader range of Americans.
Bill Clinton’s speech showed the fundamental difference between the two parties. Democrats say and, as far as I can tell, really believe that working Americans are getting a raw deal; Republicans, despite occasional attempts to sound sympathetic, basically believe that people have nothing to complain about.
“Senator Obama, this is truly a good day for America,” Senator McCain said, in a striking departure from his recent, more pointed advertisements. “Too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop and say, Congratulations. Tomorrow, we’ll be back at it. But tonight, Senator, job well done.”
Senator Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party presidential nomination on Thursday, declaring that the “American promise has been threatened” by eight years under President Bush and that John McCain represented a continuation of policies that undermined the nation’s economy and imperiled its standing around the world.
Senator Obama’s nomination brought to an end an often-bitter two-year political struggle for the nomination with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who, standing on a packed convention floor electric with anticipation, moved to halt the roll call in progress so that the convention could nominate Mr. Obama by acclamation.