Yes. They. Did.

3 million donors. $600M. 5 million volunteers. Winning the Dem primary against the best-funded best-connected candidate in history. Winning the White House against the (unjustifiably) most popular politician in the country.

No hyperbole at all. He meant it as the literal truth, and it is. What they've done is just amazing. What other campaign even comes close ?

And now for the real work.

I wonder if those little horse race things that many pundits and bloggers focus on matter all that much.

Maybe I'm a downer but when you add the fundamentals of "unpopular president and incumbent party" + "tanking economy" + "unpopular war" + "charismatic candidate" then I think you could survive even a few mistakes.

This was demosnstrated against Hillary when they cleaned her clock in iowa. The McCain finale was only slightly less impresive

I only hope we haven't reached an age where a president has to spend all his time campaigning, rather than actually working on policy. That would be a terrible waste of talent.

You know what? I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that Obama assembled the best campaign team in history. I have volunteered for several campaigns. I've never seen anything like this one. This campaign was straight out of Saul Alinsky's playbook. It was freakin' brilliant.

In my neck of the woods, the campaign staffer for our part of the county picked volunteers to organize their districts, and then basically let those volunteers handle things. It worked, obviously. My group leader had never worked on a campaign before. She coulda fooled me.

This type of volunteer empowerment works -- but only, I believe, if the candidate allows it to. Imagine how much of a control freak a person has to be in order to run for president -- and yet, allow volunteers to run the campaign on the level of groups of three or four precincts.

When I observed the absolute disarray that was Clinton's campaign, I shuddered at the thought of something similar befalling the country, after eight years of Bush.
In contrast, Obama executed flawlessly, from inception to conclusion of his run.

(And if campaign execution is to be a measure, what about Giuliani's? He-he.)

Maybe I'm a downer but when you add the fundamentals of "unpopular president and incumbent party" + "tanking economy" + "unpopular war" + "charismatic candidate" then I think you could survive even a few mistakes.

I think that's all true, but you have to balance those out with "Only 4 years of National Office" + "Muslim father" + "middle name Hussein" + "last name Obama and not Jackson or something" + "African-American candidate to follow 43 really white guys"

Any suggestion this was, or would have been, a cakewalk for Obama in any year, is misplaced.

Hey! Where's the digest of campaign news?

Oh - never mind.

I don't want to make too much with this comparison, but wasn't the same thing said of President* Bush's campaigns? sans the ethics.

I spent a lot of time in early September talking my blogging partner and my husband down off the ceiling. But my kids and I never never wavered. We just kept working steadily.

Remember the nature films from Junior High where the Army Ants pick the elephant carcass clean? We were those ants.

After hearing "Trust us; we know what we're doing," for 8 years and perpetual disappointment, it's understandable that folks were worried.

Am I the only one who detects an implicit slap at his own candidate by Schmidt? There seems to be a sub-text that says "Well suuure, anyone can run a winning campaign with a once-in-a-lifetime candidate like Obama, but look at the turd I had to polish."

Of course, I could be reading too much into that.

Just because Obama won doesn't mean you should read too much into the genius of the campaign.

Obama didn't get a real lead until the economy broke down and McCain tried to cancel the VP debate.

Karl Rove wasn't the genius everyone thought.

Obama's ground game might, I really don't know, work well in caucus states but doesn't seem to have done much in regular primaries or the general election.

I'm glad he won. He ran a decent campaign. But did he always know? No one always knows. Even the Messiah picked Judas as one of his twelve disciples.

Reagan in 1980 is the only comparison.

Maybe Nixon in '72, but you have to not care about stuff like laws to point to that one.

Jhm: yes, before this year, the most efficient non-incumbent campaign was Bush2000. and the most talented, although disorganized, was Clinton1992. This was the genius of this campaign, they took the talent and brilliance of the early Clinton years and married it to the ruthless efficiency of the Bush machine, and threw in a little je ne sais qua of their own, while embracing the technological potential. massive amounts of human talent, organized it such a way that a: it didn't LOOK organized from the top and b: that it maximized the individual talents within the system.

so yes, best campaign ever.

It was an honor to be part of the Obama campaign.

It wasn't perfect, far from it, but it was very effective. So if they can study what worked and what didn't, and perfect the machinery, we will have a machine that the creeps will never be able to stop, especially if they swing further to the right.

Before we all pack up our tents and move on, let's not forget that Obama won without any of the usual overpriced and totally worthless mega-consultants that made such a hash of Hillary's campaign. That should be a lesson to us all from this point forward.

I did not vote for either candidate but did vote the rest of the ballot. My reason for not voting for president was because Obama is for aborton. The other candidate was not a good alternative. I wish President Obama a bright future and that he is really an honorable man for the people who strugglenas middle class. Our representatives are out of control. They forgot who voted them in.
God bless our new president.

'Obama's ground game might, I really don't know, work well in caucus states but doesn't seem to have done much in regular primaries or the general election.'

I was a tiny part of the ground game in Indiana, which went blue for the first time since 1964. The organization was mind-bending. We owe a ton of thanks to hundereds if not thousands of volunteers from other states who came to knock on doors, call, and generally make our dream come true.

On the way to work this morning, they played 'Here Comes the Sun', and I cried.

The victory, winning the White House was done through a mandate of inclusiveness.

I watched apathetic folks, ones who didn't even know what Electoral Votes were, suddenly become very interested in politics.

By the thousands, no millions, folks joined together to get voters registered and to the polls.

The ground swell, what is now called the Obama Tsunami swept across this great land of ours. Not everyone took up the challenge of "enough" but enough did to defeat McCain and his bumbling VP running mate.

We applaud the campaign, but it was Obama who chose wisely, time and time again.

This election was about millions of voices wanting to be heard, screaming for change not just ranting "terrorist/socialist,etc"

The genuine nature of the Obama campaign far surpassed anything McCain/Palin could "Drudge" up!

God bless our new president.

Good point. The other side was claiming God's will was for McCain and Palin to win. Either God isn't quite as omnipotent as It is cracked up to be, or they weren't reading Its will correctly.

First, I thank all the campaign staff and volunteers who donated so much of their time, energy, and talent. Truly, amazing.

I'd just like to add that this campaign was an extension of the man[Obama]. A lot will be said about how brilliant a campaign this was, but for Obama it was never really about just running for President.
I'm reminded of an interview between Obama and Brian Williams in which Williams was discussing the trials and setbacks of presidential campaigning. He asked Obama, " What keeps you awake at night?", to which Obama replied the thought of losing didn't keep him awake, rather it was the thought of winning.

I think that says a lot.

I only hope we haven't reached an age where a president has to spend all his time campaigning, rather than actually working on policy. That would be a terrible waste of talent. Posted by: Danp

Yes. The permanent campaign sucks the energy out of actually getting anything done. It really is all in Congresses hands at this point. There lies the problem. Even if he'd gotten a filibuster proof majority in the senate, both houses contain too many problems on both sides of the aisle. Will Pelosi and Reid lead? I don't think either one is up to it. Will Murtha behave himself? Will the Dems have the guts to kick Lieberman to the curb? Will idiots like Inhofe and McConnell do the people's business or continue to be partisan hack obstructionists?

I think that a good strategy will be for Obama to go to the public more frequently to explain things and why they are important.

I like the talk of Emanuel being COS. He is truly one of the best and brightest in DC today.

I may be in the minority, but my response to the "I got this!" graphic was "Sho you right!".

The Obama campaign had me convinced on the day after Super Tuesday. However, I have to confess the wait was hell.

Obama has kept one of his two basic promises. That he would change the way politics/campaigns are conducted in this country.

The second is the manner in which we are governed. With his track record, I'm betting he will.

I realize there are tremendous challenges ahead, but, could the Kansas City Chiefs just borrow that team of organizers for a while. With their talent, they could probably set up the transition and move the Chiefs forward in their spare time.

If Obama can run this kind of campaign, imagine what kind of administration he will be able to run!

Steve Schmidt "Obama was the beneficiary of favorable media coverage."

sour grapes, my man....he wasn't the ONLY ONE.....mccain would have been done by labor day if the media hadn't enabled him every step of the way....what part of "maverick," "war hero," and "p.o.w." did they leave out....?????

sh!t.... imagine the level of blowout if the media hadn't been "muslim," "wright" "ayers" rezko" 24-7.....

I'm proud to say that since Obama won the primary I continually predicted that Obama would win in a landslide. Actually I said that the dems could run a one armed blind monkey and still win this thing. I said after the Bush/Cheney disaster and with the Gop candidates being such a joke...that McCain was just the least embarrassing candidate they had and that he was self-destructively ignorant...that there was no way the people would vote to continue this disaster. The real election was the democratic primary.

I posted constantly to those warning that McCain could win that that would never happen unless he blatantly stole the election. THAT, I believe, is the reason there was such massive voter turnout, to make it impossible for the republicans to steal the election again. People were trying to make sure the world knew how thoroughly we reject Bush/McCain/Palin ideology and that the only way they could win was if the stole it.

When I think of all the times I had to defend my position that Obama would win in a landslide and the paranoia I had to ward off it is laughable...now ('cause there were times I briefly imagined a McCain presidency and prayed) but I just couldn't understand how so many could not see it was NECESSITY that was making an Obama landslide inevitable. Necessity... to end the disaster these republicans brought on us, to save our democracy and our planet. It's not that I feel vindicated by Obama's landslide but confident that I was right about how the majority of Americans feel about their country and the direction they want to see it go. I always said Obama was not "the one", he was the "right one" at the right time to represent what the majority of Americans want. The only person I would be telling "I told you so" would be one of my heroes...Rachel Maddow whose constant fear mongering about how McCain was "going to win" was completely void of faith in the American people. But she had been surrounded too long by the loudmouth bigots (Buchanan and Tweety) on the right.
Still I am overwhelmingly grateful that we have Obama as our new president.(just like I said we would..hahaha)

Would it be hyperbole to compare this campaign to the 1972 Miami Dolphins?

At the beginning of Sept, right after the Rep Nat Convention, people i work with started showing up in my office regularly in the AM, before work really got busy. they'd say, "OK Elizabeth, give me some reassurance. tell me what's going on. i'm nervous, i can't believe Obama's doing" this that or the other thing.

i'd be able to point them to some poll or the other, or quote something i'd heard on Political Animal, or TPM, or 538, and they'd take a deep breath, and go on to work. and then they'd be back the next day. they never figured out why i was so sanguine, and i never told them what i was really thinking, which was "just TRUST him, for Pete's sake, can't you see he knows what he's doing?"

i'm not a person of faith, i don't usually put blind trust in anyone or anything. i test it out, measure it against my personal experience, and if i can't get some grasp on why it works the way it does, i discount it.

but i know stability when i see it, i know calm when it radiates from a person, i know native intelligence, and curiosity, and respect and good humor when i see it. i know when a person is comfortable in his own skin, and confident in his abilities. i can see when someone is aware of his weaknesses, and knows when to compensate for them, and when to make fun of them. and every day i saw that from Obama. evey day i saw more evidence that he is, as someone here or at TPM wrote, an emotionally healthy person. and i responded to it.
more so than policies (tho i agree with almost all of his policy stands), or strategy (tho i was thrilled that my state {VA} figured so prominently in his plans), more so that public opinion (tho the polls were nice to look at), it was Obama's calm, quite confidence, and general good naturedness that made me sure even in Sept, even when McCain was ahead, that this election would go his (our) way.

i don't think i'm the only one.

You forgot the second-guessing over the Biden pick, to which I would like to point out from one of your earlier posts "Obama won Roman Catholic voters, another group he was supposed to lose."

I told people all summer long that Barack Obama was going to beat John McCain like a rented mule, but very few people believed me. I never doubted it.

I did not vote for either candidate but did vote the rest of the ballot. My reason for not voting for president was because Obama is for aborton.

What's the matter, mrclark? Afraid your god won't let you into heaven if you vote for a pro-choice candidate? Because that's why all of you anti-choicers oppose abortion. You couldn't care less about the children you "save" once they're born - you just want your god to see you hectoring women who don't appreciate your interference in their right to control their own bodies. Like the hypocrites who pray on the streetcorners, you're just hoping God L.L.C. will reward your actions with a free ticket upstairs. Good luck with that.

As a volunteer, I attended Camp Obama back in September. A day long crash course in community organizing, with cameo from Saul Alinsky and David Plouffe. We learned about the campaign's organizational structure throughout the US. We also trained for our small part. What was amazing was that once I showed up to my battleground state, NH, there was no disconnect between states. We fit in seemlessly, and in a matter of days, hours, found ourselves somewhere in the hierachry of directing ever replenished groups of volunteers, whom, in a matter of hours days, would turn into veterans, and be assigned the organization task of leading ever new volunteers. You found yourself being fully trusted by the campaign, but you were never flying solo. The entire operation was embued with a simple "Yes we can" attitude, check you ego at the door. The people on this campaign were amazing, and more than one volunteer for the campaign found themselves with a fair amount of responsibility. It is an experience I won't soon forget. When Obama says from the bottom up, he means it, and the look of an organization/economy/Country will be fundamentally different. Its a radically simple idea.

5 years ago very few outside Chicago and political circles even knew the name Barak Obama. Even after his masterful speech and the 2004 convention I doubt more than 1 in 5 Americans, if that, knew Obama existed.

Obama, Poulfe, Axelrod and their team built an organizaton, largely from scratch and largely outside the traditional DNC routes or the course of the last 3-4 years.

When he announced his canidancy 21 months ago his name recognition might have been as high as 20% maybe 30% but that's pushing.

The organization he built went on to defeat a well funded, heavily favored opponent in the primaries (overcoming several other well known and well respected competitors).

It then went on to defeat the Republicans in a decisive fashion.

It Obama can handle the Presidency with even half the effectiveness of the campaign he crafted, there is hope for this country.

Of course everyone got nervous when Obama made decisions that went against the Conventional Wisdom. Of course everyone wet their pants when Obama would do or say something that became an instant McCain attack ad.

Because we're all used to Democrats screwing up their advantages!

Not that I have any unusually keen insights or anything, but I kept telling everyone I know to quit wringing their damn hands. Having watched Obama work from the primaries for US Senate in 04, I figured he knew what he was doing. He proved that.

Yes. He. Did.

It's quite true that people often seem to think that when you win, everything you did was right, and when you lose, everything wrong. But I can say flat out that there were plenty clusterfucks and bad decisions on the ground from the Obama camp. They got things done anyway. But it's stupid to pretend that every tactical call they made was right just because Obama blew the doors off.

i had the "chill" picture up as my desktop wallpaper for the past two plus months and every time i began to worry, all i had to do was look at it.

but it also reminded me to do my part -- a strong leader gets people nowhere unless they're willing to stand up and put their shoulder to the wheel.

i am so proud of all the people around this country who stood up and took part. president-elect obama pointed the way, the people did the rest.

thank you, america.

Me, I stopped trying to second-guess Obama some time around May, once it was evident that he knew what he was doing better than I did. I concentrated on sending money whenever I had some to spare and, once our Dem HQ got its own Obama representative assigned (a 23yr old kid from Idaho) and he got things up and running, I fed the phone-bankers, 'cause The Kid said well-fed phone-bankers were happy and effective phone-bankers.

We all did what we could to help, I think. But the inspiration came from Obama, as did the reassurance that calmly, slowly, step by measured step, we can do it. I've voted before -- in every election since becoming a citizen -- but never before with the same conviction, much less with being motivated to do anything moe than just vote.

Of course, part of this year's difference was the boiling anger at the Bush Cheney cabal and what they'd done to bring US to the all too familiar environment of communist authoritarianism (and cronyism and corruption).

I'm with dj spellchecka ...

I've heard plenty of Repubs saying, 'well McCain lost becasue of the 3 big political headwinds (1) Bush is a hated moron, (2) it was a terrible coincidence that the economy just happened to blow up weeks before the election, and (3) the media was pro Obama and against McCain.'

Does anybody believe this last point? How long can the Repubs continue to say this until they are finally called dirty rotten liars? The more they say it, the more it becomes true unless we continue to call them on it every time. It is complete BS.

If Fox News was the true standard for 'fair & balanced' then I'm sure every other news program probably appears biased toward Obama.

One of the most important outcomes of this election was the validation of clean campaigning as a winning strategy. Had McCain won, it would have poisoned campaigning for a generation.

Instead, it was a masterpiece and should be a model for a generation.

For me I give all the credit to Obama himself. I was one of MANY volunteers in Colorado and the effort was amazing, but it happened because people really believed in the candidate.

I am a natural cynic and hate the Rah Rah crap involved, but have caught myself saying Yes We Did.

Obama proved to me that he was better than me. After thousands of the most vile character assaults, he never showed anger or resentment. He was always pitch perfect and agreeable. My family had screaming fights with each other about what he needed to do, how he needed to attack/ advertise.

In the end I accepted that he knew more than I did. The GOTV efforts that I saw were breathtaking. If he runs his presidency a third as well as he ran his campaign, we are in for 8 magnificent years.

I'm trying to think of a modern presidential campaign -- especially a Democratic one -- that was as disciplined, innovative, and unflappable as this one.

They even outclassed Clinton '92, which I always considered the standard for how to run a winning campaign.

Thank you Mr. Clark, but there's a big difference between wanting to preserve a woman's right to choose what to do with her body, and being "for" abortion.

I know no one who is "for" abortion, but I know a lot of women who want the option for themselves. When you face a situation where you are going to have to carry another human being on your body for nine months and then endure incredibly painful "delivery" you let me know.

Until then, I don't really think you, or ANY MAN should have a say. Really, I don't.

In the meantime, I'll let you and the boys discuss the wisdom of adult circumcision.

As the stories from the campaign trail started to come out, and given the lack of "problems" in how Obama's campaign was run, it was clear to those paying attention that this was a really well organized, well run campaign.

My criticism is, if in fact they were pretty sure of victory the last week or two of the campaign, then why not make a couple of trips to help shore up the campaigns of people like Franken, Martin, or Lunsford? Of course it was great that he could win Indiana, but Indiana was never going to be the margin of victory in this election. But winning Franken's seat (or another vote or two in the senate from Georgia, Kentucky, or Mississippi) might be the difference between passing key elements of his agenda vs. some really hard compromises with republicans out to monkey-wrench his presidency. So I wish he had started to think more carefully about how we would be able to govern, in indeed it had become clear to him that he would get the chance to govern with days to spare in the campaign.