Seeing as this is my last opportunity to write an election-related column, I see it fitting to make fun of the campaign. But not necessarily the candidates themselves (McCain is old! Palin can see Russia from her house! Obama is changeful! Biden has really white teeth and hair plugs! Sorry I had to get it out of my system). It's time that we recollect the utter ridiculosity of this campaign right before its culmination on Tuesday.
Rep. Duncan Hunter began the presidential campaign by forming an exploratory committee way back in Oct. 2006 (worked well for him, received last place in every state he participated in). The 2008 campaign has been going on for two years. About 10 percent of my life. Saddam Hussein was still alive. Facebook was still only for students. My how things have changed.
Throughout 2007, the race heated up, with all the candidates joining the race, and the ridiculous number of debates beginning. It was the first time since 1928 that no incumbent had entered the race. So some of the candidates were relatively unknown. And after millions of dollars raised, thousands of hours of campaigning and 17 Democratic plus 15 Republican debates, the issues and expectations remained nebulous.
And we entered 2008 without a clue of what would happen in the race. Hillary Clinton was the assumptive nominee. John McCain had been written off, with Huckabee, Romney and even Giuliani ahead of him in some polls.
McCain won in New Hampshire and then rolled to the nomination. Obama and Hillary fought it out until the end of the primary season, annoying us all.
We lost some pretty interesting candidates: the "potted plant" Mike Gravel, Dennis "I saw a UFO" Kucinich, John "$400 Haircut" Edwards, Rudy "9/11" Giuliani, Mike "I've been accused of corruption more times than I have fingers" Huckabee and others.
But it was all about issues of course: healthcare (Obama and Hillary were the same, yet completely different), the war in Iraq (pretty much every candidate ended up agreeing here) and the economy (cut taxes on someone!).
Oh but there were other questions: gender, race, religion, Reverend Wright, Florida and Michigan's seats at the Democratic Convention, Jesse Jackson and Obama's... special area, 100 years in Iraq, sniper fire in Bosnia and the bitter gun-toting Americans.
Finally, the hooplah of the conventions and the overstated importance of the VP nominees settled down, and we got back to issues. Well, not really. More like attacks and vague punch lines. Mavericks. Change. Bill Ayers. Socialism. Oh yeah and that one issue: the economy. Both candidates look to fix it with equally populist and unsound proposals.
Now that we've finally reached the end of this exhausting election cycle, I look back and see that it was a truly landmark election, in both good and bad ways. Women and African-Americans have finally made a breakthrough in presidential politics. The length of the election has been legendary. The amount of money raised is unparalleled. The amount of hatred and divisiveness among the American people has been frightening. Misconceptions have gone both ways. The pandering and attempts at populism have been nauseating.
Enjoy the final weekend of the campaign. It's almost over people, almost. Even though I am a nerd for politics, even I am thankful the conclusion has nearly arrived. Nov. 5, I will breathe a sigh of relief.
Drew Everson is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs every other Friday.
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