Now that Obama has made history, it's time to look back at the 15 people who most helped Obama get elected. Why 15? Because that's the maximum number of people you can vote for on a Daily Kos poll? Of course Obama himself deserves all the credit because few of these people would be here had he not inspired or hired them. or taken advantage of the opportunities they created.
1. Oprah. Long before Obama decided to run for president Oprah began promoting his candidacy. As early as November 2004, Oprah gushed over Obama in her magazine explaining that she doesn't get involved with politics because she doesn't consider herself political, but that Obama feels like something above and beyond politcs; that Obama feels like something new. On September 25 2006 she endorsed Obama for president on Larry King. Then on Oct 19, 2006 Oprah once again asked Obama to run for president, this time on her top rated show, and used her status as the single most influential person in the history of American publishing to endorse his book the Audacity of Hope, sending it to the apex of the best-seller list. For millions of Americans the Oprah appearance marked the first time they had ever heard of the Obamas. Immediately following Oprah's two endorsements, Time magazine put Obama on their Oct 23, 2006 cover with the capation "Why Barack Obama could be the next president". The endorsements by Oprah, the success of his book, and the cover of Time magazine all converged to make Obama the greatest grassroots fundraiser American politics had ever seen. Then in May 2007, Oprah reaffirmed her endorsed for Barack Obama when asked about it again by Larry King:
This was followed up when Oprah held a fundraiser for Obama in the Fall of 2007, generating several million dollars for his campaign. But the media really began to take notice of Oprah's involvement in late November 2007 when Obama announced that Oprah would be campaigning for Obama in three early states. Almost instantly Obama began to rise in the polls (especially among white women in Iowa, and black women nationwide) as the media and others began to wonder what it was about Obama that would inspire someone as politically neutral as Oprah to dive into a presedential race. Almost instantly the notion that Hillary was inevitable was called into question, because Obama had the support of the one woman statistically tied with Hillary as the most admired woman in America. If Oprah could get get several million people to read a book, many imagined her having the same impact on Obama's campaign, and that created the sense that Obama had become a winner, especially when the Oprah rally attracted tens of thousands of people in South Carolina (a record at the time), and Howard Fineman described Oprah's speech there as one of the best he ever heard. It also created a sense of panic in the Clinton camp, causing them to overreach with silly comments about Obama's kindergarten record and past drug use.
In a race between the first black and the first woman, the black female vote proved decisive; black women had long been described as Hillary's base until Oprah jumped in. While Obama always did well among highly educated Americans, he needed a mainstreet figure like Oprah to capture the average American, and as Howard Fineman said, there's no more mainstreet a figure than Oprah. Oprah also mainstreamed Obama among white voters, especially low information white voters who watch daytime TV and feared Obama was a muslim. Having a comforting mainstream all-American figure like Oprah, who had been in their living rooms for 22 years campaign for Obama was essential in helping some of these voters feel less fearful of Obama. About one of third of all Americans reported that most people they know would be more inclined to vote for Obama as a result of Oprah's endorsement. Another study found that Oprah's late 2007 campaigning had dramatically increased Obama's visibility, especially among African Americans. With the help of Oprah eating into Hillary's base, Obama not only won Iowa but Hillary came in third, dramatically changing the trajectory of the race; this combined with his blowout victory Oprah delivered in South Carolina caused Edwards to drop out of the race and set the stage for the endorsements of Ted Kennedy and Moveon.org. Two economists calculate that Oprah got Obamaover one million votes in the primary. Since Obama only won the primary by less than half a million votes, these economists conclude that Obama + Oprah = nomination. And since it was a Democratic year, whoever won the primary was destined to win the white house and Oprah made sure it was Obama. Still she continued to generate enthusiasm by telling reporters that she cried her fake eye-lashes off during his convention, and her refusal to have Sarah Palin on her show until after the election kept Palin from fully connecting with hockey moms across America, thus forcing her into a disastrous interview with Katie Couric.
2. David Plouffe Credited with the campaign strategy.
3. David Axelrod Obama ran an extremely well organized campaign against the most powerful political machine in Democratic politics and Axelrod deserves a lot of the credit.
4. Paul Tewes He Organized Obama's Iowa effort, without which none of the rest of the campaign would have been possible.
5. Jeffrey Berman Obama's delegate man who created the 50 state plan that examined every CD in the country to win the most delegates.
6. John Kerry It was at John Kerry's convention that Obama first captured the imagination of America, and more importantly Oprah, with his landmark speech in 2004.
7. Ted Kennedy Though his support may not have had an impact right away, he was essential in convincing traditional democrats that the new kid on the block Obama was worthy of the Kennedy brand and cared about traditional Democratic values. This almost certainly contributed to Obama's 11 consecutive victories.
8. Caroline Kennedy Helped put the Kennedy name on Obama. Helped Obama compete with Hillary among white women. Participated in famous rally with Oprah, Michelle, and Maria Shriver just before Obama won 11 consecutive victories.
9. Dick Durbin Senior Senator from Illinois who introduced Obama to movers & shakers since few knew who he was prior to the 2004 speech. Durbin was also the one that told him when he had decided not to run..."sometimes you pick the time and sometimes the time picks you." If Durbin & Oprah hadn't encouraged him to run in the first place, he wouldn't be a President-Elect Barack Obama today.
10. George W. Bush Did so much damage to the Republican party, especially its neoconservative wing, that he paved the way for a Democrat who had opposed invading Iraq.
11. Moveon.org No less an authority than Hillary Clinton credits Moveon.org with with flooding the caucuses, making it difficult for her supporters to dominate. Moveon.org deserves a lot of credit for Obama's 11 straight victories.
12. Keith Olbermann He is one person who has been very helpful because he pointed out the flaws in the pundit thinking of others and had Rachel Maddow on his show who has been the most accurate pundit on TV
13. Howard Dean Opened up the door for new leadership in the Democratic party.
14. Daily Kos Obama could not have won without the support of the Internet & Daily Kos was one of the biggest on-line pro-Obama communities during the primary.
15. Katie Couric The only real threat to Obama's general election victory came from Sarah Palin and Katie Couric did more than anyone to get voters to question her qualifications.
NEAR MISSES
Chris Dodd Hillary is a brilliant debater who was very difficult to score a knockout punch against. Dodd scored the first when he claimed Hillary contradict herself on the question of drivers licences for illegal immigrants. This stumble made many Democrats look for an alternative to Hillary and thus set the stage for Obama's subsequent rise in Iowa.
Tina Fey Caused voters and the media to take Sarah Palin less seriously.