United States presidential election, 2008
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| United States presidential election, 2008 |
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| November 4, 2008 | ||||
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| Nominee | Barack Obama | John McCain | ||
| Party | Democrat | Republican | ||
| Home state | Illinois | Arizona | ||
| Running mate | Joe Biden | Sarah Palin | ||
| Electoral vote | 365 | 173 | ||
| States won | 28 + DC + NE-02 | 22 | ||
| Popular vote | 69,498,516[1] | 59,948,323[1] | ||
| Percentage | 52.9%[1] | 45.7%[1] | ||
 Electoral college votes for 2008. The winning candidate needs 270 electoral votes out of a total of 538, which is just over 50%. |
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The United States presidential election, 2008 is a political event which took place on November 4, 2008. During that day the President of the United States and Vice President of the United States were selected. Barack Obama from the Democratic Party defeated John McCain to win the presidency, and is the first African-American president. He was sworn in as President on January 20, 2009. In a United States presidential election a person must get 270 electoral votes to win.
Contents |
Democratic Primaries [change]
The candidates running for the nomination of the Democratic Party were Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, Chris Dodd, and Bill Richardson.
The main contest during the Democratic primaries was between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton which was a very close race. Clinton won the popular vote, but ultimately Obama won more unpledged delegates and therefore the nomination.
All candidates except Mike Gravel, who switched to the Libertarian Party during the election, supported Barack Obama.
Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as the vice-presidential candidate on August 23rd, 2008.
Barack Obama defeated John McCain and became president of the U.S. on January 20th, 2009.
Republican Primaries [change]
The candidates running for the nomination of the Republican Party were John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Tom Tancredo, Alan Keyes, Jim Gilmore, Sam Brownback, and Duncan Hunter.
Republican President George W. Bush was unable to run for re-election since a president is only able to be elected twice and vice president Dick Cheney chose not to run.
Most of the candidates withdrew early. In result, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney emerged as the three people most likely to win the nomination and Ron Paul became popular among libertarians.
John McCain was nominated by the Republican Party (by a decisive victory).
He chose Sarah Palin as the vice-presidential candidate.
John McCain lost the election to Barack Obama.
The Campaign [change]
The biggest issue during the campaign was the bad economy. Other issues included health care, the Iraq War, the war on terrorism, and energy independence.
The president during the election, George W. Bush (who eventually supported John McCain), was very unpopular due to the 2007-09 "great recession", and because of that, the Obama campaign compared McCain to Bush several times.
There were four television debates during the campaign: three of them were between the two presidential candidates, and one of them was between the two vice-presidential candidates.
Results [change]
| Candidate | Votes | % | States led | National ECV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Barack Obama (Democrat)  |
69,498,516 | 52.9% | 28+DC+NE-02 | 365 |
| John McCain (Republican) | 59,948,323 | 45.7% | 22 | 173 |
| Ralph Nader (Independent) | 739,034 | 0.56% | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Barr (Libertarian) | 523,715 | 0.40% | 0 | 0 |
| Chuck Baldwin (Constitution) | 199,750 | 0.15% | 0 | 0 |
| Cynthia McKinney (Green) | 161,797 | 0.12% | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 242,685 | 0.18% | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 131,313,820 | 100.00% | 50 + DC | 538 |
Results by state [change]
| State | Obama Popular Vote | Obama % | McCain Popular Vote | McCain % | Electoral Vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 811,510 | 39% | 1,263,741 | 61% | 9 |
| Alaska | 80,340 | 36% | 136,348 | 62% | 3 |
| Arizona | 851,589 | 45% | 1,012,878 | 54% | 10 |
| Arkansas | 418,049 | 39% | 632,672 | 59% | 6 |
| California | 55 | ||||
| Colorado | 9 | ||||
| Connecticut | 7 | ||||
| Delaware | 247,386 | 61% | 151,667 | 38% | 3 |
| District of Columbia | 210,403 | 93% | 14,821 | 7% | 3 |
| Florida | 4,103,638 | 51% | 3,908,736 | 49% | 27 |
| Georgia | 1,811,198 | 46% | 2,022,409 | 53% | 15 |
| Hawaii | 298,621 | 72% | 110,848 | 27% | 4 |
| Idaho | 235,219 | 36% | 400,989 | 62% | 4 |
| Illinois | 3,265,509 | 62% | 1,970,622 | 37% | 21 |
| Indiana | 1,367,264 | 50% | 1,341,101 | 49% | 11 |
| Iowa | 818,240 | 54% | 677,508 | 45% | 7 |
| Kansas | 499,979 | 41% | 685,541 | 57% | 6 |
| Kentucky | 751,515 | 41% | 1,050,599 | 58% | 8 |
| Louisiana | 780,981 | 40% | 1,147,603 | 59% | 9 |
| Maine | 4 | ||||
| Maryland | 1,409,150 | 61% | 873,320 | 38% | 10 |
| Massachusetts | 1,891,083 | 62% | 1,104,284 | 36% | 12 |
| Michigan | 2,867,680 | 57% | 2,044,405 | 41% | 17 |
| Minnesota | 1,573,246 | 54% | 1,275,466 | 44% | 10 |
| Mississippi | 517,899 | 43% | 684,475 | 57% | 6 |
| Missouri | 1,436,745 | 49% | 1,442,613 | 50% | 11 |
| Montana | 220,401 | 47% | 236,513 | 50% | 3 |
| Nebraska | 315,913 | 41% | 439,421 | 47% | 5 |
| Nevada | 531,884 | 55% | 411,988 | 43% | 5 |
| New Hampshire | 4 | ||||
| New Jersey | 2,073,934 | 57% | 1,540,907 | 42% | 15 |
| New Mexico | 454,291 | 57% | 334,298 | 42% | 5 |
| New York | 4,357,360 | 62% | 2,573,368 | 37% | 31 |
| North Carolina | 2,123,334 | 50% | 2,109,281 | 49% | 15 |
| North Dakota | 141,113 | 45% | 168,523 | 53% | 3 |
| Ohio | 20 | ||||
| Oklahoma | 502,286 | 34% | 959,645 | 66% | 7 |
| Oregon | 7 | ||||
| Pennsylvania | 3,184,807 | 55% | 2,584,119 | 44% | 21 |
| Rhode Island | 272,572 | 63% | 150,891 | 35% | 4 |
| South Carolina | 842,441 | 45% | 1,008,727 | 54% | 8 |
| South Dakota | 170,877 | 45% | 203,002 | 53% | 3 |
| Tennessee | 1,093,213 | 42% | 1,487,564 | 57% | 11 |
| Texas | 3,521,164 | 44% | 4,467,748 | 55% | 34 |
| Utah | 301,771 | 34% | 555,497 | 63% | 5 |
| Vermont | 3 | ||||
| Virginia | 1,792,502 | 52% | 1,637,338 | 47% | 13 |
| Washington | 11 | ||||
| West Virginia | 301,438 | 43% | 394,278 | 56% | 5 |
| Wisconsin | 1,670,474 | 56% | 1,258,181 | 43% | 10 |
| Wyoming | 80,496 | 33% | 160,639 | 66% | 3 |
References [change]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "FEDERAL ELECTIONS 2008: Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives". Federal Election Commission. July 2009. http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2008/federalelections2008.pdf. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
