2008 US Presidential Election

I have read about past US presidential elections in newspapers in India. But this is first time I am in US during the presidential elections.
First of all some background on the US political system. There are two phases in Presidential election. First is primaries and second is actual election. US politics is the contest between two political parties. Democrats and Republicans. Primaries are conducted by each party to select their Presidential candidate. People who want to contest for presidential nomination start their ground work well in advance, at least two years in advance. Process starts with formation of exploratory committee and any serious candidate starts their campaign in the state of Iowa and New Hampshire. These are two states that vote early in the primary season. And they follow two different format. Iowa's primary is caucus and New Hampshire's primary is by casting the vote (ballot). Caucus format, eligible voters assembly in local precinct and vote for their candidate of choice. If a candidate gets less than some percentage (usually 15%), then their supporters have to chose other candidate. By this way, less serious candidates are eliminated. Each candidates is alloted delegates based on the percentage of the votes (Democrats). Or in some states like Florida, winner takes all the delegates (only Republicans follow this format).
During 2008 primaries, Barack Obama won Iowa caucus. Hillary Clinton came second. She won New Hampshire primary. Among Republics Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucus. John McCain came second and Mitt Romney came third. John McCain won New Hampshire.
Since Republicans have 'winner takes all', John McCain emerged as Republican presidential candidate. Former New York mayor Rudy Guliani staked all his odds against Florida primary and didnt make it. As it happens always, all candidates support the winning candidate.
Democratic primary follows the proportionate allotment of delegates based on the percentage of votes won. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton won almost equal number of delegates. Clinton won large states like Florida, California, New York etc. Some of the best discussions happened between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during Democratic primaries. We friends used to follow the Democratic primary very closely. It used to be one of our topic during our lunch breaks. Every states primary gained importance due to tight Democratic primary race. Even Pennsylvania primary which come towards end of the primary season gained tremendous importance. Clinton won that primary. Our home state, Ohio primary was also won by Clinton.
Eventually Barack Obama nudged past Hillary Clinton and she conceded defeat. Democratic party was highly polarised. But Clinton threw her weight behind Obama and majority of her supporters (including Bill Clinton) came to Obama camp.
Actual election was not even half existing as Democratic primary. John McCain chose Alaska Governer Sarah Palin as Vice presedential candidate and Back Obama chose Joe Biden as his VP pick. Sarah Palin revived careers of many Saturday Night Live artists (notable being Tina Fey).
As everybody knows, Barack Obama won the presedential election and made history. He is first African American president America has ever seen.