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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

90 day countdown to presidential campaign begins

By Scott Shepard | Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 11:04 AM

The 90-day countdown begins today for the nation’s longest presidential campaign. But in these final three months leading up to the Nov. 4 election, there will be plenty of events that could dramatically alter the contest between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.

The political landscape is widely believed to favor Obama and the Democratic Party. Obama has “the most beneficial field I’ve seen in my professional lifetime,” says Peter Brown, a longtime political analyst and current assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “This election is about Barack Obama,” he says.

Still, neither candidate has made the sale. In fact, in the most Gallup Poll, the race for the presidency had moved into a statistical tie, with Obama leading McCain by just one percentage point, 45 percent to 44 percent, with 12 percent either having no opinion or being undecided.

Click on “Continue reading…” to view the events in the next three months that could change the dynamics of the presidential contest:

Aug. 8 - The Summer Olympics begin in Beijing, during which the Obama campaign plans to air $5 million in TV ads. The McCain campaign has declined to disclose whether it will follow suit.

Aug. 16 - Obama and McCain appear together at a two-hour forum at the 22,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., to discuss values, character and religious faith. The non-debate forum will be hosted by evangelical leader Rick Warren, author of the best-selling book, “The Purpose Driven Life.”

Aug. 25 - The Democratic National Convention convenes in Denver, culminating in Obama’s acceptance speech on Aug. 28 at Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium.

Aug. 29 - McCain turns 72, a birthday that highlights the fact that, if elected, he will be the oldest first-term president in American history. Obama turned 47 on Monday.

Sept. 1 - The Republican National Convention begins at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, with McCain set to accept the party’s nomination on Sept. 4.

Sept. 5 - The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its report on unemployment in August.

Sept. 11 - The seventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which both candidates are likely to use to reiterate their positions on the war in Iraq - that Obama opposed it from the start, that McCain supported the surge that has been credited with reducing the violence in the war.

Sept. 12 - The conservative Family Research Council hosts the Values Voter Summit in Washington, which should provide clues to the enthusiasm for the McCain-led GOP ticket among Republican-leaning evangelicals.

Sept. 15 - The deadline by which the last of the “surge” troops in Iraq will have been withdrawn, triggering a 45-day “pause” for U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus to determine if it is possible to further reduce the 140,000 U.S. force in Iraq.

Sept. 18 - Google/YouTube hosts a town hall meeting for the presidential candidates in New Orleans, with the city’s post-Hurricane Katrina problems likely to be part of the discussion.

Sept. 22 - Early mail and absentee balloting begins in some states, a trend that has been on the rise since 2000.

Sept. 26 - The Commission on Presidential Debates hosts the first of three presidential debates, on domestic issues, at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

Oct. 2 - The vice presidential candidates debate at Washington University in St. Louis.

Oct. 3 - The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its report on unemployment in September.

Oct. 7 - The commission hosts its second debate, a town hall format, at Belmont University in Nashville.

Oct. 15 - The commission hosts its final debate, on foreign policy, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

Oct. 22 - The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its final major monthly report prior to the election - on layoffs for the month of September.

Oct. 23 - The deadline for the candidates to submit their final pre-election reports on campaign finances.

Oct. 30 - The Commerce Department issues its advance estimate of the third-quarter of the Gross Domestic Product, an indication of the economy’s health.

Nov. 4 - Election Day.

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