Changes
/* 2008 Presidential Campaign */
Romney had the edge in early races, but couldn't deliver a knockout blow. McCain's poll numbers slowly increased and benefited as the field narrowed. After McCain defeated top contender Mitt Romney by a large margin on Super Tuesday in delegate-rich states like New York, California, and Arizona,<ref>Scott Neuman and Howard Berkes. "Mitt Romney Drops Out of GOP Presidential Race." Feb. 7, 2008. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18772382</ref> Mitt Romney withdrew with some protest, leaving McCain the clear front-runner.<ref>Bumiller, Elisabeth, Kirkpatrick, David. "Romney Is Out; McCain Emerges as G.O.P. Choice." Feb. 8, 2008. New York Times.</ref> Although McCain's proportion of the vote was not much higher than Romney's, he won most of the 'winner take all' states giving him a much higher proportion of the delegate count. Without Romney's well-financed opposition, McCain easily clinched the necessary delegate lead of 1,191 in March after a spirited yet short-lived fight from Mike Huckabee.<ref>NPR.org. "Election 2008: Huckabee, Romney Stay in Race for GOP Nomination." Feb. 6, 2008. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18739137</ref>
Between March and April, John McCain became was the official Republican all-but-certain nominee while attention centered on September 3 at the Republican National Convention. His running mate is Governor [[Sarah Palin]] of [[Alaska]] a fierce battle between Hillary Clinton and his [[Democrat]] opponent is Senator [[Barack Obama]] in the Democratic Primaries. Hillary's early losses, which could have been attributed to a surprise showing of [[Illinois]]John Edwards early in the campaign, led to a difficult and long-stretched race that many criticized for continuing. Election day will be on November 4Hillary was far more moderate in her positions than Obama, 2008and appealed more to the blue-collar rural Democrats that could vote Republican. After trailing When she lost the nomination in April, it was reported that Obama had a double-digit lead in the national polls, over John McCain suddenly took . McCain led an energetic and hard-fought campaign through the lead after the two conventionssummer of 2008, baffling and closed the lead steadily in important states, even gaining movement in Michigan and Pennsylvania among disenfranchised Democrats who . He had built their own campaign entirely on attacking President Bushan enormous difference in positions with Obama, whom McCain ignoredon issues ranging from military spending to abortion to campaign finance reform. However, recentlyin many red states, McCain has fallen back Obama began an aggressive "50 States" strategy, campaigning in the polls to SenGeorgia, North Carolina, South Dakota, Indiana, and Virginia on a message of economic stimulation. Barack Obama For McCain, who has been maintaining lacked the resources necessary for a wide-reaching campaign, the tactic helped divert Republican money into defending Red states, making an average electoral win increasingly difficult by many simulations. In September, John McCain chose Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, marking his candidacy with the first possible female Vice President. She was a socially conservative Christian, and her proven opposition to abortion energized the Republican base and helped make in-roads on the female vote. McCain took the lead after the Republican National Convention, baffling Democrats who felt that tying him to Bush sealed any GOP chances. John McCain's campaign quickly suffered from news of 7a national economic crisis, which rapidly was cast as the fault of George W.3 <ref> The latest poll results are summarized at [http://wwwBush and the Republican Party.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225McCain's support for the free market was very unattractive at the time, as many middle class families wanted a promising message of economic intervention and stimulus initiatives.html Real Clear Politics]</ref>
==Domestic Policy==
