ABSTRACT
When Barack Obama walked out on that stage in the Denver Stadium to formally accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for president of the United States, it seemed to many that a seismic shift in American politics had reshaped the landscape, and had radically altered the paradigm of the preceding two centuries. A little less than six months later the new era born during the Denver convention came of age on a blustery winter day with the inauguration in Washington. The impossible had happened; the unbelievable had occurred; an African American was the president of the United States. In the excitement of election night as it became obvious that Obama would win, a poignant reminder of those who had attempted the race before was a tearful Jesse Jackson in the crowd gathered in Chicago to celebrate the victory. It is not surprising that the black men and women who made earlier runs for the nomination were largely forgotten. At the moment their efforts seemed insignificant compared with the Obama campaign machine. The Obamamania that swept the nation in 2008 relegated, at least temporarily, those earlier efforts to the background. However, was Obama really that distinctive? Was the Obama campaign unique? Could not all of this have happened earlier?
