Chris Rock got the idea for this story from the 1984 Walter Mondale/Geraldine A. Ferraro ticket, in which the Democrats thought that since they had no chance of winning against Ronald Reagan/George Bush, they might as well make a historic first so they can win support for the next election. So they ran Ferraro as the first ever woman vice president candidate for their party (and lost).
During the Chicago speech a man stands up and yells out " Get your hand out of my pocket" in homage to Malcolm X where the same thing happened before he was assassinated.
Part of the presidential debate is a verbatim repeat of Monty Python's Argument Sketch from The Money Programme (1972).