My Analysis of How Barack Obama Won
In this analysis I am going to lay out why I think Obama won the election. First, I am going to analyze the overall campaign and the factors that I believe led to the results on election night. Second, I am going to do a state by state analysis of exactly how Obama or McCain won 15 battleground states (Missouri, North Carolina, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin, New Mexico, and Michigan).
Overall Campaign
To say that the odds were stacked up against John McCain winning the 2008 Presidential election is true, but in my opinion, John McCain (during the primary campaign) seemed like the only Republican who had any chance of winning the general election. What I believe happened to John McCain is that his maverick image and record stood in stark contrast to his positions during the primary campaign, with several exceptions. For example, McCain voted against and vigorously opposed the Bush tax cuts; yet during the primary campaign he said that he would want to make the tax cuts that he opposed permanent.
During the Democratic primary campaign, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fought tooth and nail till the very last primary. While many Democrats, including myself, were worried that such a long primary might drag on and result in a split within the party; it actually did the opposite. The long primary battle allowed for both Obama and Clinton to travel to states that a Democratic candidate would have never bothered visiting during a presidential election year. It is not a coincidence that Obama ended up winning several of those states later in the general election.
It is my belief that while Sarah Palin provided a well-needed boost of energy and excitement to the McCain campaign, after that wore off she proved to be more of a negative than a positive. It is important to say that this is not entirely the fault of Sarah Palin or John McCain, but rather it is the fault of various campaign officials who did not adequately prepare Palin for several of her high-profile interviews.
The economic crisis was the event that I believe had the most significant impact on the outcome of the election. McCain’s first comments on the economic crisis were that “the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” The Obama campaign jumped on that statement and used it to show that McCain truly doesn’t understand the hardships of everyday Americans.
Missouri – 11 Electoral Votes, 49.4% McCain; 49.3% Obama
Missouri was the closest state in the 2008 election, with McCain winning by only 3,903 votes. Obama/Biden made 20 visits in 11 counties; McCain/Palin made 13 visits in 7 counties. Obama almost won MO by racking up large margins in the large cities of St. Louis and Kansas City. He won St. Louis City 84%-15%, St. Louis county (which surrounds the city of St. Louis) 60%-40%, and Kansas City (62%-37%). Obama also won Columbia (55%-43%), St. Joseph (Buchanan county; 49.1%-49%), as well as some suburban and rural areas south of the St. Louis area. My opinion on why Obama lost MO is that it was merely a fluke.
North Carolina – 15 Electoral Votes, 50% Obama; 49.5% McCain
North Carolina has not been considered competitive in a presidential election campaign since 1996, yet it became one of the Obama campaign’s highest targets in 2008. Obama won NC by 14,177 votes. Obama/Biden made 15 visits in 7 counties; McCain/Palin made 7 visits in 7 counties. Obama managed to win NC by winning in nearly every major city in the state, and in most cases winning by a large margin. Obama won Charlotte (62-38), Raleigh (57-42), Greensboro (59-41), Asheville (57-43), and Fayetteville (59-41). Motivation was the key ingredient that helped Obama win NC, the Obama campaign successfully motivated latent Democrats, Independents, younger voters, and people who wouldn’t have normally voted at all to vote; and to vote for Obama.
Indiana – 11 Electoral Votes, 50% Obama; 49% McCain
Indiana had not been competitive in a presidential election campaign since 1996, yet it became a state the Obama campaign wanted to at least make competitive, if not win. Obama won IN by 28,391 votes. Obama/Biden made 8 visits in 7 counties; McCain/Palin made 5 visits in 4 counties. Obama managed to win IN by racking up large margins in Indianapolis (64-35) and Gary [which borders Chicago] (67-33). The Chicago media market, which includes a large chunk of northwestern Indiana, helped Obama significantly because they were already familiar with Obama before the presidential campaign. Obama’s IN victory would not have been possible if he had not won several other cities like South Bend (58-41), Lafayette (55-44), and Terre Haute (57-42).
Florida – 27 Electoral Votes, 51% Obama; 48% McCain
Florida is one of those perennial battleground states, and 2008 was no exception. Obama won FL by 236,450 votes. Obama/Biden made 37 visits in 17 counties. McCain/Palin made 33 visits in 17 counties. Obama was able to win FL by winning in the major battleground cities of Orlando (59-40), Tampa (51-48), St. Petersburg (54-46), and Daytona Beach (52-47). Obama also managed to win handily in Miami (58-42). Obama also was able to remain competitive in other cities like Sarasota (50% McCain-50% Obama), and Jacksonville (50% McCain-49% Obama).
Ohio – 20 Electoral Votes, 52% Obama; 47% McCain
Ohio is another one of those perpetual battleground states and both campaigns knew that without Ohio, they probably couldn’t win. Obama won OH by 258,897 votes. Obama/Biden made 42 visits in 23 counties [Obama/Biden visited OH more than any other state]. McCain/Palin made 51 visits in 30 counties [McCain/Palin also visited OH more than any other state]. Obama won OH because he won all the major cities. Obama won Cleveland (69-30), Columbus (59-40), Cincinnati (52-47), Dayton (52-47), Toledo (65-34), Akron (58-41), and Youngstown (62-36). While Obama did not do as well in southeast OH as past Democratic presidential candidates, he did manage to hold his own, and made up those votes by winning rural counties in northwestern OH and along Lake Erie.
Virginia – 13 Electoral Votes, 53% Obama; 46% McCain
Virginia had not been a battleground state since 1996, yet the Obama campaign was determined to win it. Obama won VA by 234,527 votes. Obama/Biden made 27 visits in 18 counties [in VA, there are both counties and independent cities; I am simply calling them counties]. McCain/Palin made 11 visits in 8 counties. The Obama campaign set out to make VA a game-changer for the election. They succeeded because they constantly visited throughout the entire campaign. Obama’s first town hall as the Democratic nominee was in Bristol, VA, and his last rally was in Manassas, VA. Obama won VA several ways. First, by racking up huge margins in the DC area (Fairfax county [60-39], Prince William county [58-42], Loudoun county [54-46]). Second, by winning Norfolk (71-28), Chesapeake (50-49), Suffolk (54-45), and Portsmouth (69-30). Along with the major cities, Obama also managed to win smaller cities like Charlottesville, Martinsville, and Danville.
Colorado – 9 Electoral Votes, 54% Obama; 45% McCain
Colorado has become more of a battleground with each election since 1992, and the Obama campaign made it a point to target the state early. Obama won CO by 214,987 votes. Obama/Biden made 14 visits in 8 counties. McCain/Palin made 18 visits in 8 counties. The Obama campaign knew that if it could win the suburbs of Denver, that it could win the state. Obama won CO because he was able to win all the Denver suburbs (Adams county [58-40], Arapahoe county [55-43], and Jefferson county [54-45]) and many rural areas such as Durango (57-41), Gunnison (63-35), and Aspen (66-33). Obama also won Fort Collins (54-44) and Pueblo (56-42).
Iowa – 7 Electoral Votes, 54% Obama; 45% McCain
Iowa, with its caucuses during the primaries, has been a battleground state for decades, and it was the state that gave Obama his first significant victory in the primaries. Obama won IA by 146,561 votes. Obama/Biden made 5 visits in 3 counties. McCain/Palin made 10 visits in 6 counties. Obama capitalized on his victory in the IA caucuses in order to win the state in the general election. A major factor why Obama was favored to win IA throughout the whole general election campaign was because McCain had skipped the IA caucuses during the Republican primaries. Obama was able to win IA because he won its most populated areas and many of the rural areas in eastern IA. Obama won Des Moines (56-42), Cedar Rapids (60-39), Davenport (57-42), Dubuque (56-39), and Waterloo (61-38).
New Hampshire – 4 Electoral Votes, 54% Obama; 45% McCain
New Hampshire, like Iowa, has been a battleground state for decades because it holds the first primary of every election cycle, and while Obama didn’t win the NH primary, the loss taught the Obama campaign that they can take nothing for granted. Obama won NH by 68,292 votes. Obama/Biden made 8 visits in 5 counties. McCain/Palin made 8 visits in 5 counties. Obama was able to win every county in NH, which is quite a feat considering, that McCain has a long successful history with NH. Obama barely won the battleground cities of Manchester/Nashua (51-48), and Portsmouth (50-49); but Obama made up for it by winning large margins in most of the rest of the state, which is primarily rural.
Minnesota – 10 Electoral Votes, 54% Obama; 44% McCain
Minnesota has gone back and forth from being a battleground state to a securely Democratic state. Obama won MN by 297,945 votes. Obama/Biden only made 1 visit. McCain/Palin made 6 visits to 3 counties. The McCain campaign tried to lure the Obama campaign to spend valuable money and time in MN, needless to say that the Obama campaign didn’t fall for it. Obama won many rural areas throughout MN, winning many of the counties bordering North and South Dakota, and many bordering Canada. Obama also won the battleground city of Rochester (51-48), as well as many of the suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul (Dakota county [52-47] and Washington county [51-47]).
Pennsylvania – 21 Electoral Votes, 55% Obama; 44% McCain
Pennsylvania has a long history of being a battleground state because of its mixture of urban, suburban, and rural populations. Obama won PA by 624,551 votes. Obama/Biden made 21 visits in 13 counties. McCain/Palin made 40 visits in 22 counties. The McCain campaign pretty much bet the whole campaign on PA, blanketing the state with visits and advertising. They underestimated how much and how quickly the PA political landscape had changed. During the Democratic primary contest in PA between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, approximately 600,000 people registered as Democrats in order to vote in the primary. While Obama did lose the PA primary (55% Clinton-45% Obama), the contest did create new Democratic voters. McCain thought he could peel away some of those Hillary Clinton supporters, and while he probably did, he didn’t peel away enough to make any headway. The major battleground area in PA is the large suburbs of Philadelphia, Obama won all the suburban Philadelphia counties (Bucks county [54-45], Montgomery county [60-39], Delaware county [60-39], and Chester county [54-45]).
Nevada – 5 Electoral Votes, 56% Obama; 43% McCain
Nevada has been a battleground state since 1992, mainly because of its growing population. Obama won NV by 120,909 votes. Obama/Biden made 10 visits in 3 counties. McCain/Palin made 10 visits in 4 counties. There are pretty much only 2 significantly populated areas in NV, Las Vegas and Reno. Reno is typically the battleground area. Obama managed to win NV because he won both Las Vegas (58-40) and Reno (55-43). A major component to the victory was the large and growing Hispanic population throughout the state.
Wisconsin – 10 Electoral Votes, 56% Obama; 42% McCain
Wisconsin is another one of those eternal battleground states, mainly because its population is mostly rural. Obama won WI by 414,818 votes. Obama/Biden made 7 visits to 5 counties. McCain/Palin made 13 visits to 8 counties. WI has typically been one of the closest states in presidential elections, however Obama’s ties to Chicago and more importantly the Midwest probably propelled Obama to win more handily than he would have otherwise. Obama won WI by winning most of the rural areas, and the battleground areas of Green Bay (54-45), Oshkosh (55-43), Appleton (55-43), and Wausau (54-45).
New Mexico – 5 Electoral Votes, 57% Obama; 42% McCain
New Mexico has been a battleground state since 1988, mainly because of its population growth and large rural population. Obama won NM by 125,590 votes. Obama/Biden made 6 visits in 3 counties. McCain/Palin made 9 visits in 3 counties. Like Nevada, New Mexico has a large and growing Hispanic population, the overwhelming majority of which voted for Obama. There are pretty much only 3 areas with a significant population in NM (all of which voted for Obama), Albuquerque (60-39), Santa Fe (77-22), and Las Cruces (58-41). Those cities, along with a decent showing in rural areas propelled Obama to win by such a large margin.
Michigan – 17 Electoral Votes, 57% Obama; 41% McCain
Michigan has a long history of being a battleground state because of its working-class population, and its mixture of urban, suburban, and rural areas. Obama won MI by 823,940 votes. Obama/Biden made 19 visits in 8 counties. McCain/Palin made 8 visits in 3 counties. I believe the McCain campaign made one of its most significant tactical errors when it decided at the beginning of October that it would basically give up on MI. The campaign closed all but several offices and stopped all advertising. No other Republican presidential candidate in recent history has completely abandoned MI before. Needless to say, the Obama campaign capitalized on this and therefore scored a major victory. By giving up on MI, the McCain campaign lost many suburban Detroit voters, which consequently voted for Obama. Obama won all of the major cities in MI, including the typically Republican stronghold of Grand Rapids (49-48).
In this analysis I am going to lay out why I think Obama won the election. First, I am going to analyze the overall campaign and the factors that I believe led to the results on election night. Second, I am going to do a state by state analysis of exactly how Obama or McCain won 15 battleground states (Missouri, North Carolina, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin, New Mexico, and Michigan).
Overall Campaign
To say that the odds were stacked up against John McCain winning the 2008 Presidential election is true, but in my opinion, John McCain (during the primary campaign) seemed like the only Republican who had any chance of winning the general election. What I believe happened to John McCain is that his maverick image and record stood in stark contrast to his positions during the primary campaign, with several exceptions. For example, McCain voted against and vigorously opposed the Bush tax cuts; yet during the primary campaign he said that he would want to make the tax cuts that he opposed permanent.
During the Democratic primary campaign, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fought tooth and nail till the very last primary. While many Democrats, including myself, were worried that such a long primary might drag on and result in a split within the party; it actually did the opposite. The long primary battle allowed for both Obama and Clinton to travel to states that a Democratic candidate would have never bothered visiting during a presidential election year. It is not a coincidence that Obama ended up winning several of those states later in the general election.
It is my belief that while Sarah Palin provided a well-needed boost of energy and excitement to the McCain campaign, after that wore off she proved to be more of a negative than a positive. It is important to say that this is not entirely the fault of Sarah Palin or John McCain, but rather it is the fault of various campaign officials who did not adequately prepare Palin for several of her high-profile interviews.
The economic crisis was the event that I believe had the most significant impact on the outcome of the election. McCain’s first comments on the economic crisis were that “the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” The Obama campaign jumped on that statement and used it to show that McCain truly doesn’t understand the hardships of everyday Americans.
Missouri – 11 Electoral Votes, 49.4% McCain; 49.3% Obama
Missouri was the closest state in the 2008 election, with McCain winning by only 3,903 votes. Obama/Biden made 20 visits in 11 counties; McCain/Palin made 13 visits in 7 counties. Obama almost won MO by racking up large margins in the large cities of St. Louis and Kansas City. He won St. Louis City 84%-15%, St. Louis county (which surrounds the city of St. Louis) 60%-40%, and Kansas City (62%-37%). Obama also won Columbia (55%-43%), St. Joseph (Buchanan county; 49.1%-49%), as well as some suburban and rural areas south of the St. Louis area. My opinion on why Obama lost MO is that it was merely a fluke.
North Carolina – 15 Electoral Votes, 50% Obama; 49.5% McCain
North Carolina has not been considered competitive in a presidential election campaign since 1996, yet it became one of the Obama campaign’s highest targets in 2008. Obama won NC by 14,177 votes. Obama/Biden made 15 visits in 7 counties; McCain/Palin made 7 visits in 7 counties. Obama managed to win NC by winning in nearly every major city in the state, and in most cases winning by a large margin. Obama won Charlotte (62-38), Raleigh (57-42), Greensboro (59-41), Asheville (57-43), and Fayetteville (59-41). Motivation was the key ingredient that helped Obama win NC, the Obama campaign successfully motivated latent Democrats, Independents, younger voters, and people who wouldn’t have normally voted at all to vote; and to vote for Obama.
Indiana – 11 Electoral Votes, 50% Obama; 49% McCain
Indiana had not been competitive in a presidential election campaign since 1996, yet it became a state the Obama campaign wanted to at least make competitive, if not win. Obama won IN by 28,391 votes. Obama/Biden made 8 visits in 7 counties; McCain/Palin made 5 visits in 4 counties. Obama managed to win IN by racking up large margins in Indianapolis (64-35) and Gary [which borders Chicago] (67-33). The Chicago media market, which includes a large chunk of northwestern Indiana, helped Obama significantly because they were already familiar with Obama before the presidential campaign. Obama’s IN victory would not have been possible if he had not won several other cities like South Bend (58-41), Lafayette (55-44), and Terre Haute (57-42).
Florida – 27 Electoral Votes, 51% Obama; 48% McCain
Florida is one of those perennial battleground states, and 2008 was no exception. Obama won FL by 236,450 votes. Obama/Biden made 37 visits in 17 counties. McCain/Palin made 33 visits in 17 counties. Obama was able to win FL by winning in the major battleground cities of Orlando (59-40), Tampa (51-48), St. Petersburg (54-46), and Daytona Beach (52-47). Obama also managed to win handily in Miami (58-42). Obama also was able to remain competitive in other cities like Sarasota (50% McCain-50% Obama), and Jacksonville (50% McCain-49% Obama).
Ohio – 20 Electoral Votes, 52% Obama; 47% McCain
Ohio is another one of those perpetual battleground states and both campaigns knew that without Ohio, they probably couldn’t win. Obama won OH by 258,897 votes. Obama/Biden made 42 visits in 23 counties [Obama/Biden visited OH more than any other state]. McCain/Palin made 51 visits in 30 counties [McCain/Palin also visited OH more than any other state]. Obama won OH because he won all the major cities. Obama won Cleveland (69-30), Columbus (59-40), Cincinnati (52-47), Dayton (52-47), Toledo (65-34), Akron (58-41), and Youngstown (62-36). While Obama did not do as well in southeast OH as past Democratic presidential candidates, he did manage to hold his own, and made up those votes by winning rural counties in northwestern OH and along Lake Erie.
Virginia – 13 Electoral Votes, 53% Obama; 46% McCain
Virginia had not been a battleground state since 1996, yet the Obama campaign was determined to win it. Obama won VA by 234,527 votes. Obama/Biden made 27 visits in 18 counties [in VA, there are both counties and independent cities; I am simply calling them counties]. McCain/Palin made 11 visits in 8 counties. The Obama campaign set out to make VA a game-changer for the election. They succeeded because they constantly visited throughout the entire campaign. Obama’s first town hall as the Democratic nominee was in Bristol, VA, and his last rally was in Manassas, VA. Obama won VA several ways. First, by racking up huge margins in the DC area (Fairfax county [60-39], Prince William county [58-42], Loudoun county [54-46]). Second, by winning Norfolk (71-28), Chesapeake (50-49), Suffolk (54-45), and Portsmouth (69-30). Along with the major cities, Obama also managed to win smaller cities like Charlottesville, Martinsville, and Danville.
Colorado – 9 Electoral Votes, 54% Obama; 45% McCain
Colorado has become more of a battleground with each election since 1992, and the Obama campaign made it a point to target the state early. Obama won CO by 214,987 votes. Obama/Biden made 14 visits in 8 counties. McCain/Palin made 18 visits in 8 counties. The Obama campaign knew that if it could win the suburbs of Denver, that it could win the state. Obama won CO because he was able to win all the Denver suburbs (Adams county [58-40], Arapahoe county [55-43], and Jefferson county [54-45]) and many rural areas such as Durango (57-41), Gunnison (63-35), and Aspen (66-33). Obama also won Fort Collins (54-44) and Pueblo (56-42).
Iowa – 7 Electoral Votes, 54% Obama; 45% McCain
Iowa, with its caucuses during the primaries, has been a battleground state for decades, and it was the state that gave Obama his first significant victory in the primaries. Obama won IA by 146,561 votes. Obama/Biden made 5 visits in 3 counties. McCain/Palin made 10 visits in 6 counties. Obama capitalized on his victory in the IA caucuses in order to win the state in the general election. A major factor why Obama was favored to win IA throughout the whole general election campaign was because McCain had skipped the IA caucuses during the Republican primaries. Obama was able to win IA because he won its most populated areas and many of the rural areas in eastern IA. Obama won Des Moines (56-42), Cedar Rapids (60-39), Davenport (57-42), Dubuque (56-39), and Waterloo (61-38).
New Hampshire – 4 Electoral Votes, 54% Obama; 45% McCain
New Hampshire, like Iowa, has been a battleground state for decades because it holds the first primary of every election cycle, and while Obama didn’t win the NH primary, the loss taught the Obama campaign that they can take nothing for granted. Obama won NH by 68,292 votes. Obama/Biden made 8 visits in 5 counties. McCain/Palin made 8 visits in 5 counties. Obama was able to win every county in NH, which is quite a feat considering, that McCain has a long successful history with NH. Obama barely won the battleground cities of Manchester/Nashua (51-48), and Portsmouth (50-49); but Obama made up for it by winning large margins in most of the rest of the state, which is primarily rural.
Minnesota – 10 Electoral Votes, 54% Obama; 44% McCain
Minnesota has gone back and forth from being a battleground state to a securely Democratic state. Obama won MN by 297,945 votes. Obama/Biden only made 1 visit. McCain/Palin made 6 visits to 3 counties. The McCain campaign tried to lure the Obama campaign to spend valuable money and time in MN, needless to say that the Obama campaign didn’t fall for it. Obama won many rural areas throughout MN, winning many of the counties bordering North and South Dakota, and many bordering Canada. Obama also won the battleground city of Rochester (51-48), as well as many of the suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul (Dakota county [52-47] and Washington county [51-47]).
Pennsylvania – 21 Electoral Votes, 55% Obama; 44% McCain
Pennsylvania has a long history of being a battleground state because of its mixture of urban, suburban, and rural populations. Obama won PA by 624,551 votes. Obama/Biden made 21 visits in 13 counties. McCain/Palin made 40 visits in 22 counties. The McCain campaign pretty much bet the whole campaign on PA, blanketing the state with visits and advertising. They underestimated how much and how quickly the PA political landscape had changed. During the Democratic primary contest in PA between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, approximately 600,000 people registered as Democrats in order to vote in the primary. While Obama did lose the PA primary (55% Clinton-45% Obama), the contest did create new Democratic voters. McCain thought he could peel away some of those Hillary Clinton supporters, and while he probably did, he didn’t peel away enough to make any headway. The major battleground area in PA is the large suburbs of Philadelphia, Obama won all the suburban Philadelphia counties (Bucks county [54-45], Montgomery county [60-39], Delaware county [60-39], and Chester county [54-45]).
Nevada – 5 Electoral Votes, 56% Obama; 43% McCain
Nevada has been a battleground state since 1992, mainly because of its growing population. Obama won NV by 120,909 votes. Obama/Biden made 10 visits in 3 counties. McCain/Palin made 10 visits in 4 counties. There are pretty much only 2 significantly populated areas in NV, Las Vegas and Reno. Reno is typically the battleground area. Obama managed to win NV because he won both Las Vegas (58-40) and Reno (55-43). A major component to the victory was the large and growing Hispanic population throughout the state.
Wisconsin – 10 Electoral Votes, 56% Obama; 42% McCain
Wisconsin is another one of those eternal battleground states, mainly because its population is mostly rural. Obama won WI by 414,818 votes. Obama/Biden made 7 visits to 5 counties. McCain/Palin made 13 visits to 8 counties. WI has typically been one of the closest states in presidential elections, however Obama’s ties to Chicago and more importantly the Midwest probably propelled Obama to win more handily than he would have otherwise. Obama won WI by winning most of the rural areas, and the battleground areas of Green Bay (54-45), Oshkosh (55-43), Appleton (55-43), and Wausau (54-45).
New Mexico – 5 Electoral Votes, 57% Obama; 42% McCain
New Mexico has been a battleground state since 1988, mainly because of its population growth and large rural population. Obama won NM by 125,590 votes. Obama/Biden made 6 visits in 3 counties. McCain/Palin made 9 visits in 3 counties. Like Nevada, New Mexico has a large and growing Hispanic population, the overwhelming majority of which voted for Obama. There are pretty much only 3 areas with a significant population in NM (all of which voted for Obama), Albuquerque (60-39), Santa Fe (77-22), and Las Cruces (58-41). Those cities, along with a decent showing in rural areas propelled Obama to win by such a large margin.
Michigan – 17 Electoral Votes, 57% Obama; 41% McCain
Michigan has a long history of being a battleground state because of its working-class population, and its mixture of urban, suburban, and rural areas. Obama won MI by 823,940 votes. Obama/Biden made 19 visits in 8 counties. McCain/Palin made 8 visits in 3 counties. I believe the McCain campaign made one of its most significant tactical errors when it decided at the beginning of October that it would basically give up on MI. The campaign closed all but several offices and stopped all advertising. No other Republican presidential candidate in recent history has completely abandoned MI before. Needless to say, the Obama campaign capitalized on this and therefore scored a major victory. By giving up on MI, the McCain campaign lost many suburban Detroit voters, which consequently voted for Obama. Obama won all of the major cities in MI, including the typically Republican stronghold of Grand Rapids (49-48).
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