Obama did a bit of cheating with students, but he got a larger turnout due mostly to free beer at the free concerts following the speeches, and McCain canceled or suspended his campaign at a critical moment.
He used the financial crisis as his excuse ~ frankly I think he had a stroke ~ not a big one but one enough to screw him up ~ so he used a financial crisis as cover for getting medical treatment.
He was never the same after that.
He gave up when FUBO broke his promise and decided not to do public financing. McCain has been around long enough to be properly cynical about the importance of money. He said “the dam has broken” and he was correct. Right here on FR we watched all the illegal contributions pour in, remember? FUBO is not even a legally elected president, in more ways than one.