For John McCain, the crash of Lehman Brothers on Wall Street was worse than the Crash of 1929. Looking back over the course of the campaign, it seems clear that the financial meltdown in mid-September was the final, decisive, event that secured Obama’s path to the White House.

Barack Obama took Hillary Clinton out of the picture in early June, and Rasmussen Reports tracking of the race showed Obama ahead by five points for the rest of that month, largely due to the momentum of his win over Clinton. But the Democrat consistently fell short of the magical 50% level of support.

Then in July, things began to tighten up. Obama stayed ahead for the most part but well within the margin of error. The two candidates were tied in mid-July at 46% each, and it remained a one-to-two-point race until the end of August. Obama experienced a modest bounce the week of July 21-27 from his highly-publicized overseas trip and speech in Berlin. Then McCain countered with advertisements ridiculing Obama’s celebrity status, and the race tightened up again.

The selection of longtime Delaware Senator Joseph Biden -- chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination himself -- as the party’s vice presidential nominee was intended to calm voter concerns about Obama’s lack of experience. But it caused little change in the polls.

Obama then received the expected bounce from a highly successful Democratic National Convention in Denver and was helped along by favorable media coverage, which a majority of voters believe was intentional. Most reporters, they told us, try to help the candidate they want to win, and this year Obama was the one. For the last week of August and the first week of September, the party faithful were enthused, voters were beginning to pay attention, and Obama led by three points.

McCain stole some of Obama’s bounce with his surprise announcement the day after the Democratic convention closed of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. The 44-year-old former beauty queen and hard-nosed reformer was a fresh face in the race, added youth to the ticket and also fired up McCain’s Republican base which had largely been going through the motions up until then. National media coverage of Palin was mostly critical, but she far exceeded expectations with her speech to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in early September. Republicans bolted out of the convention ready to win, and it showed in the polls.

The week of September 8-14 McCain was ahead for the first time – but by only one point. Obama reclaimed a one-point lead the following week. Basically the race was tied going into the last six weeks of the campaign.

Then on September 15, the 158-year-old investment banking firm of Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, marking the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The bursting housing bubble had hit Wall Street. Other firms fell like dominoes, and the resulting “financial meltdown” dominated the front pages. The Bush Administration stepped in with a proposal for unprecedented federal government involvement in the private sector and hammered out an agreement with the Democratic-led Congress. There was plenty of blame to go around, but for voters it was the final nail in the coffin of the Bush years and Republican governance.

Voters agreed things were bad, and the economy for most was the number one issue in the campaign. Interestingly, the same voters who think most of the media was trying to help Obama told us in July that reporters make the economy look worse than it really is. These findings and others suggest that, along with McCain, the media may be the other big loser in this year’s election.

Seventy percent (70%) of voters told Rasmussen Reports on Election Day that they decided which candidate to support more than a month ago. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters for McCain and 72% of Barack Obama’s voters decided then.

Down the stretch, the race was remarkably stable. Rasmussen Reports showed Obama receiving either between 50% of the vote and 52% for the last 40 days of the campaign. The race tightened a bit during the final two weeks, but Obama received either 51% or 52% of the vote on 13 of the last 14 days.

For McCain, the numbers stayed between 44% and 47% of the vote for the final 40 days. He was at 46% or 47% of the vote every day for the last nine days of the tracking poll.

For those who suggest Palin’s lack of experience and rough-handling by the media were the deciding factors, her favorability ratings are an interesting mix.

In polling following Palin’s nationally televised speech to the GOP convention, perhaps the highlight of the campaign for her, 58% had a favorable view of McCain’s running mate and 37% viewed her unfavorably. Forty percent (40%) had a Very Favorable view of Palin. Just 18% regarded her in a Very Unfavorable light.

On Election Day, 48% viewed her favorably and 51% unfavorably. Thirty-two percent (32%) had a Very Favorable opinion, 41% Very Unfavorable. Yet this woman prompted levels of enthusiasm at her campaign events rivaled only by Obama. Sixty-five percent (65%) of Republicans rated their view of Palin as Very Favorable, while the identical number of Democrats (65%) had a Very Unfavorable view. Among unaffiliated voters, those with a Very Unfavorable view outnumbered those who viewed her very favorably by two-to-one.

It’s interesting to note, however, as the Republican Party begins to rebuild itself after the beating on Election Day that Palin, in a survey taken on Monday, was more popular with GOP voters than McCain. She also told a recent interviewer that in the future she hopes to engage in less confrontational politics and seek bipartisan solutions for the nation’s problems, which is likely to tone down her negatives.

Here is a list of our weekly results for McCain & Obama since the Presidential race between the two candidates started.