With more than a billion dollars being spent on campaigns and publicity operations, an unprecedented use of the latest communication technologies, and no incumbents running for the seat, the 2008 US Election promises to be a truly unique event. All eyes are already riveted on the build up to the election day on 4th November 2008. The many
unique features of 2008 election already make it stand apart in the history of US Presidential elections.
The expenses of the US elections have escalated markedly in the last two elections. This election promises to be the most expensive election ever to be held on the US soil. The money spent in the 2004 election crossed the billion dollar mark by a notch, and it is predicted with certainty that any candidate will have to spend well over that amount in order to be taken seriously even before the primaries begin for the US Elections 2008. Internet has opened up avenues of campaign finances being collected from all over the world. The Presidential election campaign fund checkoff is summarily refused by many heavyweight candidates because of its apparent inadequacy.
One of the rarest phenomenas in the US election is an 'open seat' contest, a situation where neither the incumbent President nor the incumbent vice-President runs for the Presidential seat. However, the coming election seems all the more unique as neither the incumbent President nor the incumbent vice-President has even sought party nomination. George W. Bush has already served the maximum of two terms allowed by the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution, while Dick Cheney has famously presented the Sherman pledge and ruled out any chance of his candidacy at the very beginning of his vice-Presidential term. The last time such a situation arose was in the 1928 Presidential elections.
The all-inclusive influence of the Internet will definitely be a key feature of the Presidential election of 2008. It will play a key role in campaigning and for collecting funds to support campaigns. The overwhelming amount collected by
Ron Paul, a whopping 4.2 million dollars in a single day, was possible because of the Internet. The role of the Internet in hosting the Presidential debates, which were traditionally held on the TV, has also widened the scope of the Presidential campaigns. With CNN collaborating with You-Tube in order to host the Presidential debates, it is now believed that more and more people will be able to witness the entire proceedings of the US Elections directly.
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