●Historic Contest Ends With Obama Victory_自考专本|专升本|高升专|高升本|在职研究生-学历教育网

您所在的位置：首页 >> 互联网 >> 文章正文

Historic Contest Ends With Obama Victory

1183天 19小时 9分钟前

来源: 原创

相关标签：Obama

特别感谢销魂的友情供稿

Sen. Barack Obama was elected the nation's first African-American president, defeating Sen. John McCain decisively Tuesday as citizens surged to the polls in a presidential race that climaxed amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

'Change has come,' Sen. Obama told a huge throng of cheering supporters in Chicago at a midnight rally.

In his first speech as victor, Sen. Obama catalogued the challenges ahead. 'The greatest of a lifetime,' he said, 'two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.' (See the full text of Obama's speech.)

He added, 'There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face.''

The culmination of the epic two-year campaign marks a historic moment in a nation that since its founding has struggled with racial divisions. It also ushers in a period of dominance for Democrats in Washington for the first time since the early years of President Bill Clinton's first term. With Tuesday's elections, Sen. Obama's party will control both houses of Congress as well as the White House, setting the scene for Democrats to push an ambitious agenda from health care to financial regulation to ending the war in Iraq.

In becoming the U.S.'s 44th president, Illinois Sen. Obama, 47 years old, defeated Arizona Sen. McCain, 72, a veteran lawmaker and Vietnam War hero. Despite a reputation for bucking his own party, Sen. McCain could not overcome a Democratic tide, which spurred voters to take a risk on a candidate with less than four years of national political experience. Sen. Obama is the first northern Democrat elected president since John F. Kennedy in 1960.

Sen. McCain conceded the election to Sen. Obama, congratulating him and pledging to help bringing unity to the country. Speaking from outside the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Sen. McCain told his supporters: 'It's natural tonight to feel some disappointment. Though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours.' (Read more on McCain's concession.)

Sen. McCain's defeat in Florida followed losses in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and New Hampshire, swing states he was hoping to secure for the Republican column.

According to a preliminary tally, Sen. Obama led the race with 338 electoral votes versus 157 for Sen. McCain; 270 were needed to win.

Also elected: Joe Biden of Delaware as vice president, the veteran senator who has promised to help Sen. Obama steer his agenda through Congress.

Watershad Moment

Sen. Obama's campaign was built on record fund-raising and a vast national campaign network. He would enter office with a long policy wish list that includes ending the war in Iraq, implementing a near-universal health-insurance plan and finding alternatives to Middle Eastern oil. His ability to implement these plans will be constrained by the stuttering economy, which could be in recession, and continuing financial crisis.

Many of these promises are expensive and could be complicated by record budget deficits, a looming entitlement crisis as the Baby Boom generation retires.

The preliminary results suggest a startling turnaround from just four years ago, when Republicans controlled Congress and the White House, and benefited from a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. The party's intellectual leaders spoke of a permanent Republican majority in Washington.

Overall, voters went to the polls in a sour mood about the economy, the war in Iraq and President George W. Bush, all factors working in Sen. Obama's favor. It would have been an uphill struggle for any Republican.

Sen. Obama also took Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, Democratic-leaning states where Sen. McCain competed, believing his record of crossing party lines would win over independents and some Democrats.

Sen. Obama won in traditionally Democratic turf across the Northeast and elsewhere. He took New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, his home state of Illinois and the District of Columbia. Sen. McCain won, as expected, in Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina and Wyoming, as well as North Dakota and Georgia, two states Sen. Obama reached for.

National exit poll results found Sen. Obama won two-thirds of Hispanics and more than two-thirds of voters aged 18 to 29. He took 96% of black voters, who increased their share of the electorate from 11% to 13%. He took one in four evangelical votes, up from 21% for Democrat John Kerry in 2004.

Sen. Obama won among women but lost among men, national exit polls show. And he won among independents but divided the suburban vote.

Helping Sen. Obama: Democrats make up a larger share of the electorate this year than they did four years ago, when equal numbers of voters identified as Democrats and as Republicans. This time, 40% said they were Democrats and just 32% said they were Republicans.

Eighty-five percent of all voters said they were very or somewhat worried about the nation's economy, with eight in 10 worried that the economic crisis would harm their family's finances over the next year, according to early exit-poll results. Just 20% of voters said the country was generally going in the right direction. The economy was far and away the No. 1 issue for voters.

Sen. McCain struggled to connect on both economic and foreign policy. Half of all voters said they expected their taxes to go up no matter who wins, despite a campaign by Sen. McCain to paint his rival as a tax raiser. And while Sen. McCain repeatedly argued that the U.S. is winning the war in Iraq, more than six in 10 voters disapproved of the war.

Voters were more likely to say that Sen. McCain has the experience for the job than Sen. Obama. But voters were more likely to say that Sen. Obama was in touch with people like them, and had the right judgment to make a good president.

Amazing Race

Tuesday's voting brought to a close the longest and most expensive presidential campaign in U.S. history, with the general election costing about $1.6 billion, double the 2004 presidential race, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. After nearly two years of campaigning, Americans were set to make history, whatever the outcome.

The race featured the first woman, Sen. Hillary Clinton, to seriously contend for a party nomination. Gov. Sarah Palin became the first woman to appear on the Republican ticket. And Sen. Obama broke ground as the first black party nominee for president.

Americans went to the polls in what were expected to be record numbers, including the 30% of all voters who voted early. In total, voter-registration numbers were up 7.3% compared with the last presidential election, for a total of 153 million eligible voters.

The race also featured the most extensive use yet of the Internet. Online social networks spread the campaign to corners of the country that had never before experienced such intense electioneering.

Last-Minute Push

Sen. Obama began the day by casting his own ballot in his hometown of Chicago with his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters, Malia, 10 years old, and Sasha, 7, looking on.

In Phoenix, Sen. McCain and his wife, Cindy, cast their ballots at Albright United Methodist Church, as supporters outside cheered him on.

Months in the Making

Sen. Obama launched his candidacy on the statehouse steps of Springfield, Ill., nearly two years ago. He was a freshman senator known mainly for a keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention and a best-selling book. The son of a white woman from Kansas and a Kenyan immigrant who once herded goats, the relative newcomer came with a foreign-sounding name and associations that would prove to be chronic liabilities.

His spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, had issued incendiary sermons from the pulpit of Sen. Obama's church. A convicted felon, Tony Rezko, helped him purchase a Chicago home. And Republicans tried to tie Sen. Obama to an associate and neighbor, William Ayers, a domestic terrorist in the 1960s.

With that baggage, he took on one of the most powerful names in Democratic politics, Sen. Clinton, defeating her after a long primary fight. Sen. Obama's campaign beat the Clinton machine by going where she was not, racking up victories in states such as Idaho, Kansas and Wyoming.

His general election campaign pitted him against a Republican with a reputation for bucking his party. Sen Obama stuck to two themes relentlessly: Sen. McCain, he said, offered a third term for President Bush, while he was the agent of change.

Sen. McCain, the son and grandson of four-star admirals, came to national fame 35 years ago as a prisoner in the Vietnam War. He turned to politics after injuries sustained in captivity prevented him from flying.

He first ran for president in 2000, losing in the GOP primary to Mr. Bush. In preparing for the 2008 contest, Sen. McCain worked to establish himself as the front-runner.

His campaign was large and expensive and nearly collapsed in July 2007. He began again with a barebones operation. He ran as a promoter of the war in Iraq at a time when it was deeply unpopular. He pushed for and then backed the early 2007 surge in troops that turned out to be an important factor in the country's turnaround.

The choice of Gov. Palin thrilled conservatives but turned off other voters, especially the independents he would need. Exit polls Tuesday found that six in 10 voters said she is not qualified to be president should it become necessary. Those voters overwhelmingly favored Sen. Obama for president.

But Sen. McCain struggled to find a message that would resonate, running at various times as the experienced insider, a maverick who would shake up Washington, a bipartisan conciliator and a tough-minded 'Country First' war hero.

On Monday, as he has often before, Sen. McCain told the crowd the story of how many Arizonans had run and lost their races for president, including Sen. Goldwater, the late Rep. Morris Udall, and former Gov. Bruce Babbitt.

'Arizona might be the only state in America where mothers don't tell their children that someday they can grow up and be president of the United States,' he said, reprising one of his favorite quips.