2008 United States Presidential Election

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Overview

2008 United States Presidential Election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election held on November 4th, 2008. The two major candidates were Democratic Senator Barack Obama, along with his running mate Joe Biden, and Republican Senator John McCain, along with his running mate Sarah Palin. The race resulted in the victory of Barack Obama, who became the first African American ever to be elected president of the United States. Moreover, the 2008 presidential election is now widely cited as the first U.S. presidential election that took place in the age of social media.

Background

Presidential Candidates

Barack Obama is an American politician and former U.S. Senator who has been serving as the 44th President of the United States since entering the office in January 2009. Obama announced his candidacy for the Democratic nominee in the 2008 presidential election on February 10th, 2007.

John McCain is an American politician who has been serving as United States Senator for Arizona since entering the office in January 1987. McCain formally announced his intention to run as the Republican nominee in the 2008 presidential election on April 25th, 2007.

Vice Presidential Candidates

Joe Biden is an American politician who has been serving as the 47th Vice President of the United States since entering the office along with President Barack Obama in January 2009. Biden was formally nominated as Barack Obama's running mate at the Democratic National Convention on August 22nd, 2008.

Sarah Palin is an American politician who served as the ninth Governor of Alaska from 2006 to 2009 and vice presidential candidate along with John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Palin was officially nominated as John McCain's running mate at the Republican National Convention on September 3rd, 2008.

Highlights

Obama Girl

I Got a Crush on Obama is a viral video featuring woman singing about her infatuation with the then Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Upon its release by the YouTube web series Barely Political in June 2007, the video quickly went viral and spawned many remixes, while the actress, Amber Lee Ettinger, rose to viral fame under the nickname "Obama Girl" as a result of its popularity.

The "Hope" Poster

The Obama "Hope" Poster is an iconic image of Barack Obama created by graphic designer and street artist Shepard Fairey during the 2008 United States presidential election. Made with a stylized stencil of an Associated Press photograph of the then U.S. Senator from Chicago, the posters were created independently of the official campaign. After the image was shared online, parodies of the poster depicting other notable figures and characters began appearing as well, mimicking the red, beige and blue color scheme of the original version.

Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle

BarackObamaIsYourNewBicycle.com was a single-serving site that generated a series of non-sequiturs portraying the Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as a personable do-gooder. Created by San-Francisco based writer Mathew Honan in February 2008, the website gained a large following throughout the 2008 presidential campaign and spawned a number of spin-off sites centered around many other candidates.

Zombie McCain

Zombie McCain is a photoshop meme based on a photograph of Arizona's Republican Senator John McCain posing in an awkward stance with his tongue hanging out taken shortly after the conclusion of the third and final presidential debate with Barack Obama in October 2008.

The Vice Presidential Debate

The 2008 Vice Presidential Debate was a televised debate between the Democrat vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden and Republican vice-presiential candidate Sarah Palin in October 2008. Watched by nearly 70 million U.S. television viewers and people online, the debate inspired a number of online parodies online due to its wealth of gaffes and memorable moments, mostly at the expense of Sarah Palin.