50 Fun Facts About 2008 US Presidential Election

Which former Saturday Night Live head writer won an Emmy for impersonating Sarah Palin during the 2008 campaign?

Tina Fey had left the show in 2006 but came back after viewers noticed her resemblance to the Republican running mate. Her first sketch paired her with Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton.

What trade gave Ohio voter Samuel Wurzelbacher his 2008 nickname after he challenged Barack Obama on taxes?

Plumber was the trade, and John McCain cited 'Joe the Plumber' in the final debate as a stand-in for middle-class Americans. Wurzelbacher had said he hoped to buy a small plumbing business.

John McCain handed Barack Obama an attack line in August 2008 by being unsure how many of what he owned?

Houses were the sticking point: he told a Politico interviewer that his staff would get back with the number. The moment fed an out-of-touch image in a campaign dominated by the economy.

Which Republican candidate won the 2008 Iowa caucuses after airing a campaign advert starring Chuck Norris?

Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister, took 34 percent in Iowa after gaining momentum late in the race. The actor went on to suggest John McCain was too old for the presidency.

Which soul singer performed at Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration in a hat topped with a huge crystal-studded bow?

Aretha Franklin sang 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee' after the invocation, wearing a hat with a Swarovski crystal-studded bow. The hat made a fashion statement of its own.

What did Barack Obama promise daughters Malia and Sasha in his 2008 victory speech they could bring to the White House?

A puppy was the promise, kept in April 2009 when Bo, a Portuguese Water Dog, arrived as a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy. The breed was chosen partly because of Malia's allergies.

A 2008 John McCain advert likened Barack Obama to Britney Spears and which other tabloid star, who filmed a reply?

Paris Hilton hit back in a viral Funny or Die video titled as her response to McCain. The original advert had questioned whether a celebrity candidate was ready to lead.

Which late-night comedian tried to enter the 2008 presidential race only in his home state of South Carolina?

Stephen Colbert announced his run on The Colbert Report with sponsorship from Doritos. South Carolina's Democratic executive council voted 13–3 to keep him off the primary ballot.

Which artist designed the red, beige and blue 'Hope' poster of Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential election?

Shepard Fairey based the stencil-style portrait on a photo by Associated Press freelancer Mannie Garcia. The Smithsonian acquired a version for its National Portrait Gallery in January 2009.

Which Black Eyed Peas member turned a Barack Obama primary-night speech into a celebrity-filled 2008 music video?

will.i.am set the words of an Obama concession speech to music, and Bob Dylan's son Jesse directed the video. The campaign had no involvement in making it.

Barack Obama attended the private Punahou School on a scholarship while growing up in which state?

Hawaii is where he was born, in Honolulu in 1961, making him the only president born outside the contiguous United States. He studied at Punahou from fifth grade until 1979.

John McCain spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war after being shot down over which country?

Vietnam was where a missile brought down his Skyhawk over Hanoi in October 1967, on his 23rd bombing mission. He refused an early release unless every man captured before him was freed too.

Which state did John McCain represent in the Senate from 1987, succeeding 1964 presidential nominee Barry Goldwater?

Arizona elected him to the House in 1982 and then to the Senate, where he served until his death in 2018. Goldwater had been an Arizona senator for 30 years in all.

Joe Biden, Barack Obama's 2008 running mate, had commuted by Amtrak for decades as a senator from which state?

Delaware kept him in the Senate from 1973 to 2009, and his daily train rides home to Wilmington earned him the nickname 'Amtrak Joe'. He won a seventh Senate term on the day he was elected vice president.

Which office did Barack Obama give his defeated primary rival Hillary Clinton after winning the 2008 election?

Secretary of State was the post, and she resigned her New York Senate seat in 2009 to take it. She served throughout Obama's first term, until 2013.

Where in Chicago did Barack Obama deliver his election-night victory speech to a crowd of about 240,000 in 2008?

Grant Park had been the scene of violent protests during the 1968 Democratic convention. Forty years later it hosted the celebration of the first Black president's election.

Which city's 2008 Democratic convention ended with Barack Obama accepting the nomination in a packed football stadium?

Denver had last hosted the Democrats in 1908. The final night moved from the Pepsi Center to Invesco Field, where a record crowd of 84,000 watched the acceptance speech.

Which storm, striking Louisiana in 2008, led Republicans to scale back the opening day of their national convention?

Gustav came ashore on the convention's first day, so the Minnesota programme was cut to required business and appeals to help victims. President Bush stayed away and appeared by satellite.

Which financial giant collapsed in September 2008 on the day John McCain called the economy's fundamentals strong?

Lehman Brothers filed the largest bankruptcy in US history on 15 September 2008. McCain's upbeat remark at a Florida rally that morning appeared to cost him as the crisis took over the race.

Which talk show host drew nearly 30,000 people to a Barack Obama rally in South Carolina in December 2007?

Oprah Winfrey made her first campaign appearances for Obama that month, and two economists later estimated her endorsement was worth over a million primary votes.

Which former Massachusetts governor spent over $35 million of his own money on a failed 2008 Republican primary bid?

Mitt Romney suspended his campaign on 7 February 2008, two days after Super Tuesday. Four years later he came back to win the Republican nomination.

Which Texas congressman's 2008 Republican campaign set online records with one-day drives nicknamed 'money bombs'?

Ron Paul twice broke the record for the most money raised online in a single day by any presidential candidate. Before politics he worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist.

Which former New York City mayor, an early Republican front-runner for 2008, quit after finishing third in Florida?

Rudy Giuliani campaigned in Florida throughout the primary season, hoping a win there would propel him through Super Tuesday. Time had named him Person of the Year in 2001 after the September 11 attacks.

Which actor, known as District Attorney Arthur Branch on Law & Order, sought the 2008 Republican nomination?

Fred Thompson joined the NBC drama in 2002, during the final months of his term as a Tennessee senator. He entered the race in September 2007 after six months of speculation.

Which 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee finished second in the 2008 Iowa caucuses, ahead of Hillary Clinton?

John Edwards launched his campaign in New Orleans, near sites devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and returned to the city to suspend it in January 2008.

Which New Mexico governor was likened to Judas by a Clinton ally after endorsing Barack Obama in March 2008?

Bill Richardson had been UN ambassador and energy secretary under Bill Clinton, so strategist James Carville cast the endorsement as a betrayal. He had ended his own presidential bid that January.

Which Ohio congressman and former Cleveland mayor was asked in a 2007 Democratic debate whether he had seen a UFO?

Dennis Kucinich was asked by NBC's Tim Russert about a passage in a Shirley MacLaine book describing the sighting. His platform included a cabinet-level Department of Peace.

Which consumer advocate ran for president as an independent in 2008, taking about 738,000 votes nationwide?

Ralph Nader announced his run on NBC's Meet the Press and finished third, far behind the two major tickets. He had stood for the Green Party in 1996 and 2000.

Which former Georgia congressman, a leader of Bill Clinton's impeachment, was the 2008 Libertarian presidential nominee?

Bob Barr had left the Republican Party and won the Libertarian nomination after six rounds of balloting. Some Libertarians criticized him for sponsoring the Defense of Marriage Act while in Congress.

Which former Georgia congresswoman was the Green Party's 2008 presidential nominee, finishing sixth nationwide?

Cynthia McKinney announced her Green campaign in a YouTube video and ran with Rosa Clemente. She drew about 42,000 more votes than the party's ticket four years earlier.

Which television journalist's 2008 interviews with Sarah Palin were later parodied on Saturday Night Live?

Katie Couric asked about the bailout, foreign policy and even which periodicals the candidate read. Clips of the interviews drew more than 10 million views on YouTube.

Which PBS journalist moderated the 2008 vice presidential debate as her forthcoming Barack Obama book drew criticism?

Gwen Ifill was the first African-American woman to moderate a vice presidential debate, having also done so in 2004. John McCain said he expected her to do a totally objective job.

Which Chicago pastor's sermons, aired by ABC News in March 2008, prompted Barack Obama's speech on race?

Jeremiah Wright was the retired senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, and Obama resigned his membership there in May 2008. The speech answering the uproar was titled 'A More Perfect Union'.

In which city, at the National Constitution Center, did Barack Obama give his 2008 'A More Perfect Union' speech?

Philadelphia is where the Constitution was drafted, and the speech took its title from the document's Preamble. Obama used it to address racial tensions and his former pastor's remarks.

Which retired four-star general, a Republican, endorsed Barack Obama on Meet the Press in October 2008?

Colin Powell had chaired the Joint Chiefs of Staff and served in George W. Bush's cabinet. He praised Obama's ability to inspire and the inclusive nature of his campaign.

Which 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee endorsed John McCain and spoke at the 2008 Republican convention?

Joe Lieberman was McCain's first choice for running mate, but aides vetoed the idea because of his liberal voting record. Al Gore had picked him for the Democratic ticket eight years earlier.

Sarah Palin was the second woman on a major-party ticket; who was the first, as Walter Mondale's 1984 running mate?

Geraldine Ferraro, a New York congresswoman, joined a Democratic ticket that lost to Ronald Reagan in a landslide. Palin was the first woman nominated for vice president by the Republicans.

Sarah Palin joked at the 2008 Republican convention that only lipstick separated a pit bull from which sport's moms?

Hockey mom was how she described herself while introducing her family to the delegates. In the same speech she told reporters she was not going to Washington to seek their good opinion.

Sarah Palin was mayor of which small Alaska city before she became governor and John McCain's 2008 running mate?

Wasilla elected her to its city council in 1992 and as mayor in 1996. The city, part of the Anchorage metropolitan area, counted 9,054 residents at the 2020 census.

Which state did Barack Obama carry by about one percentage point in 2008, its first Democratic vote since 1964?

Indiana had gone Democratic only once since 1936, in Lyndon Johnson's landslide. The win gave Obama all eight Great Lakes states, a sweep last managed by Richard Nixon in 1972.

Which bellwether state, wrong only once in a century of elections, backed John McCain by under 4,000 votes in 2008?

Missouri had sided with the winner in every election from 1904 to 2004 except 1956, when it preferred Adlai Stevenson to Dwight Eisenhower. McCain's margin there was just 3,903 votes.

Barack Obama won one electoral vote from Nebraska in 2008 by carrying the congressional district around which city?

Omaha anchors Nebraska's 2nd district, and the result split the state's electoral votes for the first time ever. John McCain took the other four.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton held their first joint rally in June 2008 in a New England town with which apt name?

Unity was chosen for its name and because each candidate had received exactly 107 votes there in the primary. It was their first public event together since Clinton left the race.

Which state, along with Florida, was stripped of its 2008 Democratic delegates for holding its primary too early?

Michigan's primary went ahead without Barack Obama on the ballot, because he and several rivals had withdrawn their names. The party later seated the delegates with half a vote each.

Barack Obama in 2008 became the first major-party nominee since Watergate to turn down what for the general election?

Public financing had been accepted by every major-party nominee since the programme launched in 1976. Obama called the system broken, while critics said the decision contradicted his earlier statements.

Which Secret Service code name was assigned to Barack Obama, matched by 'Renaissance' for his wife Michelle?

Renegade headed a family of R names that also included Radiance for Malia and Rosebud for Sasha. Rawhide had belonged to Ronald Reagan.

In which European city did Barack Obama speak at the Victory Column before about 200,000 people in July 2008?

Berlin was one stop on a tour that also took in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, France and Britain. The crowd at the Victory Column was estimated at 200,000 to 240,000.

Hillary Clinton admitted a mistake in 2008 after wrongly describing landing under sniper fire in which country in 1996?

Bosnia was the destination of her March 1996 visit to US troops at Tuzla Air Base. CBS News footage showed her walking across the tarmac at a leisurely pace and stopping to hear a girl read a poem.

Which former Alaska senator, famed for putting the Pentagon Papers on record, sought the 2008 Democratic nomination?

Mike Gravel won an internet following with outspoken debate appearances but little support in polls. In March 2008 he left the Democrats to seek the Libertarian Party's nomination instead.

Which state's primary did Hillary Clinton win in January 2008, defying polls that had Barack Obama well ahead?

New Hampshire gave her about 39 percent to Obama's 36, the first time a woman had won a major-party presidential primary that awarded delegates. Her supporters hailed her as the comeback kid.