Please forgive me, but this was written in November of 2008, but is still true today. It tells of how marketing can make the difference of failure and success in a presidential election. I hope you will head the lessons learned in your marketing plans. So, like it or not, marketing your message is really, really, important. Now that I have had a little time to digest what just happened in this historic Presidential race, I cannot help but notice how much marketing and messaging played in selecting our 44th President. I am not saying that the organizational skills, enthusiasm, and funding did not help. They most certainly did. But what was the catalyst that got all that good stuff going for Barack Obama? It was marketing and messaging. Maybe the best candidate did not win. Maybe McCain was more qualified, had more experience, and was more centrist. But it was Obama who was better able to determine what Americans perceived of this abilities than McCain. The difference was that