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McClatchy Washington Bureau | 11/06/2008 | Caution: Obama won, but he... http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/55375.html

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WASHINGTON — Barack Obama didn't get
all the way there Tuesday — not yet anyway.
He won the presidency, to be sure, in a solid
victory that also saw his Democratic Party
add to its majorities in the House of
Representatives and the Senate.
However, he fell short of the kind of
realignment that would've immediately altered
the political landscape and forged an
enduring majority that could dominate the
national agenda for years. Instead, like
Richard Nixon in 1968 or Ronald Reagan in
1980, Obama laid the groundwork for such a
potential shift, but probably will need a strong
re-election to consolidate and build a new
order.
"We don't know yet if this is an anybody-
but-a-Republican election or a major shift in
the inclinations of voters toward the
Democrats," said Steve Schier, a political
scientist at Carleton College in Minnesota. "I
don't think we'll know until he runs for
re-election."
Obama's win in the popular vote was
impressive, taking an estimated 52 percent
to Republican John McCain's 46 percent.
That's the biggest margin for any president
since George H.W. Bush won 53.4 percent in
1988, and the biggest for a Democrat since
Lyndon Johnson's 61.1 percent in 1964.
His victory in the Electoral College was even
more commanding. He led by 349 to 163,
with Missouri and North Carolina still to be
decided.
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to mention hard-to-get swing states, including Florida and Ohio.

"There are some signs of a fundamental realignment," said Linda Fowler, a

political scientist at Dartmouth College. "The inroads Democrats are making in
the West suggests something is going on. And the Republicans now have to
defend the South."

Yet Obama lost the white vote by 12 points, and whites still make up 74 percent
of voters.

In addition, his gains in Congress — picking up five seats in the Senate and 17
in the House as of Wednesday — were smaller than expected.

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McClatchy Washington Bureau | 11/06/2008 | Caution: Obama won, but he... http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/55375.html

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