United States presidential election, 2008

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United States presidential election, 2008
November 4, 2008
Obama portrait crop.jpg John McCain official portrait 2009.jpg
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain
Party Democrat Republican
Home state Illinois Arizona
Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin
Electoral vote 365 173
Contests won 28 + DC + NE-02 22
Popular vote 69,498,516[1] 59,948,323[1]
Percentage 52.9%[1] 45.7%[1]
United States presidential election, 2008

Electoral college votes for 2008. The winning candidate needs 270 electoral votes out of a total of 538, which is just over 50%.
Incumbent President
George W. Bush
Republican
President-Elect
Barack Obama
Democrat

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.

Democratic Primaries[change | change source]

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 23, 2008.

Nominees[change | change source]

Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party Ticket, 2008
Barack Obama Joe Biden
for President for Vice President
Obama portrait crop.jpg
Joe Biden official portrait crop.jpg
U.S. Senator from Illinois
(2005–incumbent)		 U.S. Senator from Delaware
(1973–incumbent)
Campaign

Withdrawn candidates[change | change source]

  • Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator from New York (withdrew on June 7, 2008 and endorsed Barack Obama)
  • John Edwards, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina (withdrew on January 30, 2008 and endorsed Barack Obama)
  • Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico (withdrew on January 10, 2008 and endorsed Barack Obama)
  • Dennis Kucinich, U.S. Representative from Ohio (withdrew on January 24, 2008 and endorsed Barack Obama)
  • Joe Biden, U.S. Senator from Delaware (withdrew on January 3, 2008 and endorsed Barack Obama)
  • Mike Gravel, former U.S. Senator from Alaska (withdrew on March 25, 2008 to run for the Libertarian Party nomination. After losing the nomination, he endorsed Jesse Johnson)
  • Christopher Dodd, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (withdrew on January 3, 2008 and endorsed Barack Obama)
  • Evan Bayh, U.S. Senator from Indiana (withdrew on December 15, 2006 and endorsed Hillary Clinton. He later endorsed Barack Obama)
  • Tom Vilsack, former Governor of Iowa (withdrew on February 23, 2007 and endorsed Hillary Clinton. He later endorsed Barack Obama)

Republican Primaries[change | change source]

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. Vice president Dick Cheney chose not to run.

Most of the candidates withdrew early. As a result, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney emerged as the three people most likely to win the nomination. 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.

Nominees[change | change source]

Republican Party (United States)
Republican Party Ticket, 2008
John McCain Sarah Palin
for President for Vice President
McCain 2009 portrait crop.jpg
Palin In Carson City On 13 September 2008.jpg
U.S. Senator from Arizona
(1987–incumbent)		 9th
Governor of Alaska
(2006–2009)
Campaign
McCain Palin logo.svg

Withdrawn candidates[change | change source]

The Campaign[change | change source]

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 | change source]

Candidate Votes % States led National ECV
Barack Obama (Democrat) Yes check.svg 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 | change source]

State Obama Popular Vote Obama % McCain Popular Vote McCain % Electoral Vote
Alabama 813,479 38.74% 1,266,546 60.32% 9
Alaska 123,594 37.89% 193,841 59.42% 3
Arizona 1,034,707 45.12% 1,230,111 53.64% 10
Arkansas 422,310 38.86% 638,017 58.72% 6
California 8,274,473 41.01% 5,011,781 36.95% 55
Colorado 1,288,633 53.66% 1,073,629 44.71% 9
Connecticut 997,772 60.59% 629,428 38.22% 7
Delaware 255,429 61.94% 152,374 36.95% 3
District of Columbia 245,800 92.46% 17,367 6.53% 3
Florida 4,282,074 51.03% 4,045,624 48.22% 27
Georgia 1,844,123 46.99% 2,048,759 52.20% 15
Hawaii 325,871 71.85% 120,566 26.58% 4
Idaho 236,440 36.09% 403,012 61.52% 4
Illinois 3,419,308 61.92% 2,031,179 36.78% 21
Indiana 1,374,039 49.95% 1,345,648 48.91% 11
Iowa 828,940 53.93% 682,379 44.39% 7
Kansas 514,765 41.95% 699,655 56.61% 6
Kentucky 751,985 41.17% 1,048,462 57.40% 8
Louisiana 782,989 39.93% 1,148,275 58.56% 9
Maine 421,923 57.71% 295,273 40.38% 4
Maryland 1,629,467 61.92% 959,862 36.47% 10
Massachusetts 1,904,097 61.80% 1,108,854 35.99% 12
Michigan 2,872,579 57.43% 2,048,639 40.96% 17
Minnesota 1,573,354 54.06% 1,275,409 43.82% 10
Mississippi 554,662 43.00% 724,597 56.18% 6
Missouri 1,441,911 49.29% 1,445,814 49.43% 11
Montana 231,667 47.25% 242,763 49.51% 3
Nebraska 333,319 41.60% 452,479 56.53% 5
Nevada 533,736 55.15% 412,827 42.65% 5
New Hampshire 384,826 54.13% 316,534 44.52% 4
New Jersey 2,215,422 57.27% 1,613,207 41.70% 15
New Mexico 472,422 56.91% 346,832 41.78% 5
New York 4,804,945 62.88% 2,752,771 36.03% 31
North Carolina 2,142,651 49.70% 2,128,474 49.38% 15
North Dakota 141,278 44.62% 168,601 53.25% 3
Ohio 2,940,044 51.50% 2,677,820 46.91% 20
Oklahoma 502,496 34.35% 960,165 65.65% 7
Oregon 1,037,291 56.75% 738,475 40.40% 7
Pennsylvania 3,276,363 54.49% 2,655,885 44.17% 21
Rhode Island 296,571 62.86% 165,391 35.06% 4
South Carolina 862,449 44.90% 1,034,896 53.87% 8
South Dakota 170,924 44.75% 203,054 53.16% 3
Tennessee 1,087,437 41.83% 1,479,178 56.90% 11
Texas 3,528,633 43.68% 4,479,328 55.45% 34
Utah 327,670 34.41% 596,030 62.58% 5
Vermont 219,262 67.46% 98,974 30.45% 3
Virginia 1,959,532 52.63% 1,725,005 46.33% 13
Washington 1,750,848 57.65% 1,229,216 40.48% 11
West Virginia 303,857 42.59% 397,466 55.71% 5
Wisconsin 1,677,211 56.22% 1,262,393 42.31% 10
Wyoming 82,868 32.54% 164,958 64.78% 3

Related pages[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ 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" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. 2009. Retrieved March 10, 2013.  Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

Other websites[change | change source]

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