2008 election

In the summer months leading up to the 2008 presidential election Obama led in the polls by 2 to 4 points and on September 3rd his lead was 6%. On August 29th McCain choose Sarah Palin as his running mate and by September 8th McCain had moved ahead by 4 points, a swing of ten points in less than a week and the all important momentum had shifted. On September 15th Lehman Brothers Bank failed and the polls began to rapidly change and by September 22nd, Obama was ahead by 2 points and never relinquished the lead. The Fed could have rescued Lehman by lending it the money needed to replace the fleeing short-term lenders, There are conspiracy theorist who say that Lehman was allowed to fail to affect the election. They contend that even if the Fed wanted to take action they could have waited another month to avoid any interference in the election.