'May's Election Gamble': What Happened? - BBC Newsnight

Newsnight's Political Editor Nick Watt looks back at what happened during the Conservative election campaign.

France Election 2012: Nicolas Sarkozy Penned into Bar after Being Heckled on Campaign Trail
Riot police had to break up a crowd of dozens of left-wing supporters, and some Basque separatists, after French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived to campaign in Bayonne ahead of April's presidential race.

Read the short article here | Friday, March 02, 2012
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Obama’s Broken Promises Kick Off Campaign for 2012

Analysis: Billion-dollar Obama to Run Moneyed Campaign
REUTERS: President Barack Obama is no longer the outsider candidate who fueled his bid for the White House in 2008 with a flood of small donations from new and young voters inspired by his message of hope and change.

As a sitting president he has far greater authority and media access and his 2012 re-election campaign is expected to raise $1 billion, which is unprecedented in U.S. politics.

"In 2008, he was very much an insurgent candidate, somebody from out of nowhere with a wholly different story. And the Obama campaign was as much a crusade as it was a traditional campaign for president," said Christopher Arterton, a professor of political management at George Washington University who has also been a Democratic consultant.

With early polls showing Obama leading potential Republican rivals, he announced his re-election campaign on Monday with e-mails and text messages to supporters and a video on the website www.barackobama.com. He is expected to file campaign papers with the Federal Election Commission as early as Monday.

That would allow him to start campaign fund-raising and much of his war chest is expected to come from the kind of big-money donations he has criticized in the past. » | Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON | Monday, April 04, 2011

Barack Obama Offers to Stay Away from Mid-term Campaign Trail
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama has offered to stay away from the campaign trail for the US mid-term elections amid a growing realisation that he may be a liability for the Democrats.

President Barack Obama speaks about Iraq and Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 2, 2010, at the Disabled American Veterans national convention in Atlanta. Photo: The Telegraph
The president is understood to have told senior Democrats during a private meeting at the White House that they “may not want me” to campaign in their areas during the next three months.

During a visit by Mr Obama to Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday, the Democrat candidate for governor was “not available” to meet the president and campaigned elsewhere in the state. The situation highlights the dramatic slump in Mr Obama’s fortunes.

For the past two elections, he has been the Democrat’s main asset with other candidates desperate for him to campaign in their areas.

However, his approval ratings are now below 50 per cent and a growing number of Americans are dissatisfied with his handling of the economy.

The Republican party - expected to win a majority in the US Congress this year - are attempting to turn the mid-term election in to a referendum on Mr Obama.

Over the weekend, Mr Obama addressed his declining popularity in an interview, saying that his fortunes would not improve until unemployment began to fall. He said that an assessment of his success was currently “incomplete”. >>> Robert Winnett in Washington | Monday, August 02, 2010

Schwarzenegger Pummels Barack Obama
Photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger helping John McCain beef up his campaign in Columbus, Ohio courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Arnold Schwarzenegger brought some much-needed brawn to John McCain's presidential campaign with a muscular attack mocking Barack Obama's policies and physique.

The California governor was joined by Country and Western star Hank Williams Jr as they pumped up supporters at a boisterous rally in Columbus, Ohio. The state is a must-win battleground so crucial to Mr McCain that he devoted two of the last five days of the campaign to blitz the state by bus.

The Austrian-born former Mr Universe, a popular Republican moderate who played a key role in helping George W Bush win Ohio and thus the White House four years ago, reminded the audience that he hosted an annual bodybuilding contest in Columbus.

"I want to invite Senator Obama because he needs to do something about those skinny legs," he said to loud and amused roars. "I'm going to make him do some squats. And then we're going to make him do some biceps curls to beef up those scrawny little arms."

He then turned to the political impact of his message. "If only we could do something about putting some meat on his ideas," he said, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. "Senator McCain on the other hand is built like a rock."

The star of the Terminator blockbusters added that while he played action heroes on screen, "John McCain is a real action hero" who "has served his country longer in a POW camp than his opponent has served in the United State Senate". >>> By Philip Sherwell in Columbus, Ohio | November 1, 2008

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