My key moments of the campaign? Two from each candidate - small reasons why Obama became a winner and McCain a loser. The two big reasons - President Bush and the economy - please take as read.
I'd start back in January 2007, before the campaign had even begun. The new Senator, Barack Obama, had yet to declare his candidacy for the White House, but anyone who follows these things knew it was only a matter of time. So we went up to Capitol Hill and dropped by his office. The Senator wasn't giving formal interviews but he agreed to answer a few questions for Newsnight. We were immediately struck by his ease at handling random issues on the hoof - he never appeared hurried, seemed to consider every point with careful deliberation and dodged none before moving on.
He was the same the next day when I threw a few further questions after a news conference. And again on a third day, down in New Orleans, the must-visit venue for aspiring Democratic candidates post Katrina, he responded to Newsnight's interventions with grace and a little humour. Of course he must have been sick of the sight of the British reporter (no votes in the UK) but was still willing to engage. It was impressive. This was the candidate of cool, a man at ease with himself and confident of his abilities and intellect.
The second Obama moment came last week, five nights before election day, in Orlando, Florida. This was the night Bill Clinton ventured onto the platform in support of the man who'd dashed Hillary's hopes. The former president was in his element, addressing a crowd the size of which he could never have drawn in his own right at any time. He loved it and the 40 thousand returned the feeling. Obama told them, "Now you remember what a great president looks like," and they roared.
But it was Bill Clinton's remarks that really struck. He told them that Barack Obama does not make rash, instant judgements. He thinks, consults (consultant groups apparently include President W. and Senator H. Clinton, so Obama's shrewd with his flattery too) weighs the points until he understands. Understanding was the key, according to Clinton. Obama was the man who understood and always wanted to understand.
The contrast with the present incumbent of the White House was implicit but unmissable. There was also, one sensed, a deliberate evocation of the supposed erratic nature of John McCain.
As for McCain, the first moment I thought he was in deep trouble was the point at which many seemed to decide he was on the up: the day he picked Sarah Palin. The trouble with Palin - one of the troubles - was that she utterly undermined McCain's pitch, his Big Argument: that Obama was too inexperienced to be allowed near the Oval Office. A 72 year old president picking a novice as his number two did not seem to be a case of Putting Country First. The fact that she then turned out to be a divisive figure in a nation which is seeking healing only further hurt the ticket.
John McCain's second bad moment came on September 24 when he suddenly announced he was suspending his campaign and calling for a postponement of that week's presidential debate so that he could return to Washington to sort out the country's economic crisis. It was classic McCain in the worst sense. Like the Palin selection, it looked rash and a gamble which was never likely to succeed. McCain had admitted he has a blind spot over economics and we're told that when it came to talks at the White House he contributed nothing. He failed to have any impact on the bail out and then had to swallow his pride and turn up for the presidential debate. Quixotic, vainglorious, reckless - all the flaws apparent in John McCain's campaign.
He has many qualities which we saw only rarely during his 2008 run for the Presidency, but one shining example of the Good McCain comes in something he didn't do - in a remarkable piece of political self abnegation he refused to raise the matter of Obama's barmy pastor, Rev. Wright. McCain abhors racism (incidentally he has an adopted daughter from Bangladesh) and he knows that characters like Rev Wright, with their incendiary comments, only inflame the racists' ire.
Many around him, including Gov. Palin, were eager for John McCain to use Obama's association with the cleric but McCain said no. It must have cost him votes - Wright looked to be a real vulnerability for Obama - but it does John McCain enormous credit that in this area the honourable McCain stood firm.
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