A couple of days ago, Loose Cannon opined as to the reasons—ten of them—that the 2008 presidential campaign turned out the way it did. Several folks who left missives in the comments section of the blog, as well as numerous friends who sent me private emails, insisted that I had missed a couple of important factors.

Reason First (that’s a paraphrase of a famous John Adams exchange with Thomas Jefferson) was the economy. I wrote about the effect that the financial market meltdown had on the contest between Barack Obama and John McCain, specifically critiquing McCain’s response to the crisis and pointing out how the entire mess made Obama’s call for “change” all that much more palatable to voters. But my friendly critics pointed out that the entire economy was already headed for recession, and that this fact clearly helped Obama’s candidacy. I agree. I believe that the last time an incumbent—or a candidate of his party—was elected in the midst of a recession was 1956. So yes, that’s an 11^th factor.

The other big reason cited to me was Sarah Palin. Readers of this blog know that I have not been critical of McCain’s vice presidential choice. Certainly there was no need to be, as nearly every other commentator in the land was already eviscerating her. Also, as I wrote on this site, I was concerned that what opinion-makers thought they knew of Alaska’s governor—that she was inexperienced, uninformed about national and international issues, and woefully unprepared for higher office—came from two gotcha-style network television interviews. In the vice presidential debate, she made far fewer gaffes than Joe Biden, and made them over less important issues. Be that as it may, exit polling, interviews with McCain’s own staff, and the contents of my inbox have made it clear to me that she did not help the Republican ticket. A couple of longtime McCain admirers confided in me that they had not voted for the man because of his choice in running mates. I did not share these feelings of alarm, but they were undeniably out there, and I should have included this factor as well.

So, that’s 12 reasons Obama won and McCain lost. Enough said, at least by me. From now until January 20, 2009, I’ll be all about Obama's transition to the presidency. In fact, tomorrow, I’ll explain why George W. Bush and Laura Bush’s graciousness toward the Obamas—and Obama’s reciprocal expressions of grace today during his first press conference as President-elect, bodes well for the Republic.