The United States presidential election of 2008, held on Tuesday November 4, 2008, is the 56th consecutive quadrennial United States presidential election and will select the President and the Vice President of the United States. The Republican Party has nominated John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona as its nominee; the Democratic Party has nominated Barack Obama.
Barack Hussain Obama (born 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and presidential nominee of the Democratic party in the 2008 United States presidential election. Obama is the first African American to be nominated for president by a major political party. While John McCain (born 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and presidential nominee of the Republican Party in the 2008 United States presidential election.McCain graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958 and if he wins he’ll be the 2nd president after Jimmy Carter who graduated from US Navel Academy.
It is the first time in history that the two main opponents in the general election are both sitting Senators. Therefore, it appears virtually certain that the 2008 election will mark the first time since the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 that a sitting Senator will be elected President of the United States, and only the third time ever in American history, after John F. Kennedy and Warren G. Harding.
Either candidate would become the first president born outside the Continental United States, as Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and McCain was born at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, a US naval base. A bipartisan legal review agreed that McCain is a natural-born citizen of the United States, a constitutional requirement to become president. Obama, having a white mother and Kenyan father of the Luo ethnic groupwould be the first president to be black and to be biracial. McCain would be the first president from Arizona, while Obama would be the third president elected from Illinois. The last candidates to run from these states were Adlai Stevenson (D) of Illinois, who ran and lost in 1952 and 1956, and Barry Goldwater (R) of Arizona, who ran and lost in 1964. While being elected from Illinois, Obama would become the first president from Hawaii, his home state by birth. If Obama wins, he'll be the 15th democratic president and 27th lawyer to become president of United States of America, Senator Joseph Biden, would be the first Roman Catholic vice president. If McCain wins, he'll be the 20th republican president and Sarah palin will be the 1st women vice president.
Also, if inaugurated on January 20, 2009, McCain would be the oldest U.S. president upon ascension to the presidency at age 72 years and 144 days,and the second-oldest president to be inaugurated. Barack Obama and John McCain are 24 years and 340 days apart in age. This is the largest age disparity between the two major party presidential candidates, surpassing Bill Clinton and Bob Dole (23 years and 28 days apart in age) who ran against each other in 1996.
It is concluded that either McCain or Obama would become the president, it will not only impact the whole united states but also all over the world.
