by Les Zsoldos

Created on: June 17, 2008

Barack Obama's success can truly be considered a surprise. When he started his campaign, he was relatively unknown. Not only did he have little experience as a senator from Illinois, but he was running against a formidable opponent, Hillary Clinton, the wife of a very popular ex-president. Most Republicans considered her a certainty to win the Democratic nomination.

Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton, her campaign did not go as she had hoped. She reminded voters that she was experienced and ready to lead from day one. The message of experience was probably intended to remind voters of President Bush's lack of experience prior to assuming the presidency. However, Barack Obama's message of change had more appeal. The former first lady's message of experience may have reminded voters that the White House had been run by the Bush and Clinton families for twenty years.

She finished third in Iowa, a disappointing result, and suddenly appeared far less confident of winning the nomination. Her husband often overshadowed her and made comments which were a detriment to her campaign. To make matters worse, she accumulated financial debts which contrasted with Barack Obama's very successful fundraising.

Nevertheless, Barack Obama also faced problems of his own. His former pastor Jeremiah Wright made controversial comments which threatened to ruin his chances of securing the nomination. During the Ohio campaign, the Canadian government became involved in a minor scandal when an official revealed that Barack Obama's talk of renegotiating NAFTA was merely campaign rhetoric. Of course one could suspect that this was also true for Hillary Clinton, but the damage was done. The implication was that Barack Obama knew that renegotiating NAFTA was not only impractical but virtually impossible and was merely saying he would do so to appeal to the voters of Ohio. Without question, the scandal had an effect on his campaign and helped Hillary Clinton to win in Ohio.

Barack Obama's success could be attributed to a number of factors. They included his excellent campaign team, excellent finances, organization and preparation in the caucuses, captivating messages, success with young voters, and string of endorsements from prominent Democrats such as Ted Kennedy, Bill Richardson and John Kerry. Though Hillary Clinton was heavily favoured to win the Democratic nomination, in the end Barack Obama was the victor.

At the start of the campaign for the Democratic nomination, few would have predicted that Barack Obama would end up the nominee. Hillary Clinton was considered unbeatable, particularly after convincing Al Gore not to enter the race. However, her arrogance and dishonesty added to her problems. As an example of her dishonesty, her claim that she was a major participant in the North Ireland negotiations for a peace agreement was quickly proven to be false.

Barack Obama managed to win the Democratic nomination because his message of change resonated with voters. They wished to prove that they were ready to accept a biracial candidate who was not a career politician with years of experience in Washington. His strong opposition to the war in Iraq, his pledge to reform Washington and his excellent fundraising skills all contributed to his surprising success. He fought a very hard battle with Hillary Clinton, but ran an outstanding campaign which clearly took not only the voters, but also Hillary Clinton, by surprise.

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