1968 and 2008

1968 and the current election of 2008 have many similarities which lead me to believe it is the most similar election. “Nixon, Humphrey and the Vietnam War”, as titled in our Presidential Campaigns text parallels the ongoing election. The Vietnam War in 1968 was “bitterly dividing the country”, war hawks ‘’supported Johnson’s administration efforts to prevent a North Vietnam takeover of South Vietnam” (Boller 320). The doves protested the war and staged sit-ins and demonstrations. Currently, the Iraq war is playing a significant issue in this election. The democratic nominees, Clinton and Obama are calling for an end to the war and to pull out troops. McCain, on the other hand is against pulling the troops out until the ‘job is done’.

Another similarity between ’68 and ’08 is Nixon and McCain. Nixon made a comeback after being defeated in 1960 by John F. Kennedy and once again in 1964 by Barry Goldwater. In order to gain attention, Nixon tried hard to regain political attention by making speeches, and reaching out to other Republican party officials for friendships (321). McCain ran for nomination in 2000 against Bush and subsequently lost. However since then he has gained momentum, like Nixon, and has shed his “loser’s image” (321).

Another issue that is similar is the ‘tough on crime’ approach that the Conservatives take. Giuliani made many get tough on crime stances during his short-lived campaign and McCain himself takes a tough on terror/crime stance as well. Nixon made use of the law and order issue, he promised to make streets safer and “restore order and respect for law in this country” (324).

In conclusion, the Vietnam and Iraq wars separated the country between doves and hawks and are important backgrounds to the elections.

-Diana Davino

............Don't forget about those Congressional races!

While everyone this year keeps talking about the hot 2008 Presidential race, and whose going to win, there are many many more elections that are going on at the same time this Election Day. There are elections on town levels, state legislatures, governorships, U.S. Senate Seats and U.S. House seats. All of these are generally considered down ballot races, as the main election this year is the presidential election between McCain versus Obama or Clinton. But, it is extremely vital for each party to win seats in the U.S. Congress as a newly elected president needs members of his own party to have a majority to get his or her agenda through. With a divided government, it is really hard or even impossible for a President to get his or her agenda through Congress without having his or her party with a majority in Congress (A prime example of this it the bitter years we saw in the late 1990's with Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and the Republican controlled Congress. It was very hard for Clinton to get his agenda through Congress).

This year, for the 2008 election, the Democrats go into the election with majorities in the House and Senate. If Clinton or Obama were to win the White House, then they would need a Democratic controlled Congress to get their agenda through with as little changes to it as possible. If McCain wins, then he is hoping for the Republicans to take back Congress, so he can get his agenda through. As of right now, the prospects look really good for the Democrats to not only maintain their majorities, but to gain a significant amount of seats based on a number of reasons. One reason is the number of open seats in each house there are that were once held by Republicans. There are 6 open seats in the Senate and over 20 seats in the House. Also, the heads (Chuck Schumer (NY) for the Senate, Chris Van Hollen (MD) for the House) of the Democratic Congressional and Senate Campaign Committee (which are responsible for electing Democrats to the each body of Congress respectively) has a much more cash on hand to spend for Congressional races then the Republican Campaign Committees have on hand. The exact number is about $30 million for the Democrats and $3 million for the Republicans. This means the Democrats will be able to spend much more money on seats that could be vulnerable and the Republicans would be struggling to just play defense in some seats that are vulnerable. All in all, the Congressional races are very important to who ever wins the presidency as to get their agenda through Congress.

The implications of the Congressional races and the Presidential election of this year reminds me of numerous elections in the past. One such race was back in 1800, when Jefferson and the Republicans beat the Federalists in the presidential and Congressional races. As a result, Jefferson was more easily able to get his agenda through the Congress then if the Federalists were the party in power in Congress. Another election is the 1928 election, when Hoover and the Republican party swept into power with sweeping victories in the House and Presidency. As a result, these important Congressional races paved the way for these presidents to more easily get their agenda passed through Congress. This could be the case this year, depending on which party wins the Presidency and Congress respectively.

Websites that I obtained the information from:
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/08/870099.aspx
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Comparison/Maps/Apr06.html
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/08/dccc-chair-warns-negative-presidential-race-could-do-damage/