Giving Credit where Credit is Due

Ever since the election some 24 days ago, I have been pondering how Obama's team won this election. Granted, the economy did not help the Republican Party, an unpopular President pushed voters into the Democratic corner; that is all important, but what really won the election?

I have to give credit where credit is due. Given the same set of circumstances, I would have turned down public financing for the general election. Why hamstring yourself when you are breaking every fundraising record in existence, not to mention that the attention span of an American voter is less than three days, so Obama's promise to use public financing was not going to cost him any significant amount of votes.

Obama campaigned in all 50 states. He forced McCain to defend territory that he normally would not have to defend. Obama took the fight to McCain, instead of doing what the McCain people did and waited for the final three days to put up any significant fight.

Obama did not concede a single state during the campaign. McCain out the door handed Obama California, New York, Illinois and Michigan. Those four states accounted for 45.9% of the electoral votes needed. When you give your opponent that much of a head start, you are going to lose.

Although this election was more about firing George Bush than it was electing Obama, I will give credit where credit is due - they ran one helluva campaign from a strategic point of view.

This should serve as a lesson to the Republican Party that if you want to win, you need to campaign in all 50 states.