United States presidential election, 2008

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United States presidential election, 2008
November 4, 2008
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Arizona
Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin
Electoral vote 365 (projected) 173 (projected)
States carried 28+DC+NE-02 22
Popular vote 68,588,471 59,485,641
Percentage 52.8% 45.8%
United States presidential election, 2008

Presidential election results map. Red denotes states/districts won by McCain/Palin, Blue denotes those won by Obama/Biden. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state. Obama won one electoral vote from Nebraska's 2nd congressional district while McCain won the other four of the state's electoral votes.

Incumbent President
George W. Bush
Republican
President-Elect
Barack Obama
Democratic

The United States presidential election of 2008 was held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, the junior United States Senator from Illinois, won decisively, defeating Republican Party nominee, John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona, based on popular vote results from the states, as well as the projected electoral vote to be cast on December 15.

It was the 56th consecutive quadrennial United States presidential election. The selected electors from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia will vote for president and vice president of the United States on December 15, 2008.

The 2008 election was the first time in U.S. history that an African American was elected president.[1] It was also the first time two sitting senators ran against each other. Also, since the Republican nominee for vice president was a woman, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, either winning ticket would have been historic, as no woman has been elected vice president.

Contents

Characteristics

Leading candidates were senators

For the first time in history, both major party nominees were sitting United States Senators: Republican candidate John McCain (Arizona) and Democratic candidate Barack Obama (Illinois).[2] The 2008 election marked the first time since the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 that a sitting Senator was elected President of the United States, and the third time in American history (Warren G. Harding in 1920 was the first). It was also the second time in American history, after the election of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in 1960, that both the successful presidential and vice-presidential candidates (Barack Obama and Joe Biden) were sitting Senators. With their victory, Biden, having been a Senator since January 1973 and having served for the past 36 years, became the longest-serving senator in history to become Vice President. Joe Biden is also the first Roman Catholic to be elected vice president.

For his part, McCain would have, if elected, become the first prisoner-of-war since Andrew Jackson to become President as well as the first to become President after having won at least four Senate terms. (Senator John Kerry was the Democratic nominee in 2004 during his fourth Senate term.)

Leading candidates' origins

Either major party nominee would have become the first president born outside the contiguous United States, as Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and McCain was born to American parents at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, a U.S. naval base. When a challenge was raised to McCain's candidacy because of his birthplace, a bipartisan legal review agreed that McCain was in 1937 "retroactively rendered... a natural born citizen, if he was not one already", when Congress passed a law making all offspring of US citizens also citizens. Being a natural-born citizen is a constitutional requirement to become president of the US.[3] Obama, having a white mother and Kenyan father of the Luo ethnic group,[4] will be the first African-American, bi-racial president.

Obama will be the first president born in Hawaii, and the third president elected from Illinois, the first two being Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant.[5] (Ronald Reagan was born in Illinois, but when elected had been in California for decades, where he was a former governor.) McCain would have been the first president from Arizona. The last major party nominees to run from these states were Adlai Stevenson (D) of Illinois, who ran and lost in 1952 and 1956, and Barry Goldwater (R) of Arizona, who ran and lost in 1964.

Leading candidates' ages

Barack Obama and John McCain are 24 years and 340 days apart in age. This is the largest age disparity between the two major party presidential candidates in history, even surpassing Bill Clinton and Bob Dole (23 years and 28 days apart in age) who ran against each other in the 1996 presidential election.

No incumbents

The 2008 election marked the first time since the 1952 election that neither the incumbent president nor the incumbent vice president was a candidate in the general election and the first time since the 1928 election that neither one sought his party's nomination for president.[6][7] The incumbent president, George W. Bush, was serving his second and final term and was barred from running again by the term limits imposed by the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Vice President Dick Cheney chose not to seek the presidency. Starting in 2001, Cheney frequently stated that he would never run for president: "I will say just as hard as I possibly know how to say [...] 'If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve.'"[8]

The 2008 election was the first since 1976, when Vice President Nelson Rockefeller was not President Gerald Ford's running mate, in which the sitting vice president was not a candidate for either the presidency or the vice presidency.[9]

Election controversies

A number of pre-election controversies revolved around challenges to voter registration lists, involving techniques such as caging lists alleged to constitute voter suppression.

Voter list purges using unlawful criteria caused controversy in at least six swing states: Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina.[10] On October 5, 2008 the Republican Lt. Governor of Montana, John Bohlinger, accused the Montana Republican Party of vote caging to purge 6,000 voters from three counties which trend Democratic.[11] Allegations arose in Michigan that the Republican Party planned to challenge the eligibility of voters based on lists of foreclosed homes.[12] The Obama campaign filed a lawsuit challenging this.[13] The House Judiciary Committee wrote to the Department of Justice requesting an investigation.[14]

The McCain campaign tried to publicize the alleged ACORN scandal, in which the voter registration organization reported a small percentage of strange names among those they registered (many of whom were reportedly Democrats). Several states investigated allegations of fraud but did not find the organization liable. Voter fraud would not take place unless someone tried to vote using one of the illegal names.

Virginia election authorities were ordered by a federal judge to preserve late-arriving absentee ballots sent by active-duty military personnel following a suit by the McCain campaign. It alleged that the state sent absentee ballots late to servicemen.[15] According to federal law, absentee ballots must be mailed to troops in foreign countries at least 45 days prior to an election. The charge against Virginia was that the ballots were not printed until after the deadline and therefore were mailed late to soldiers abroad.[16]

Guam's 173,000 residents are U.S. citizens, and must obey U.S. laws passed in Washington, yet they have neither a voting member of Congress, nor votes in the Electoral College.[17] Since 1980 they have held a straw poll for president at the same time as the U.S. national elections. In 2007, Guam's legislature voted to move the straw poll up to September, to draw attention to the choices of Guam's population, as well as their continued disfranchisement[17], but the bill was vetoed by the governor.[18] Obama won the 2008 Guam Straw Poll by 20,120 votes to 11,940 for McCain.[19]

Libertarian candidate Bob Barr filed a lawsuit in Texas to have Obama and McCain removed from the ballot in that state.[20] His campaign alleged that both the candidates had missed the August 26th deadline to file, and were present on the ballot contrary to Texas election law. Neither candidates at the time of the deadline had been confirmed as the candidate for their respective parties. The Texas Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit without explanation.[21]

Campaign

See also: United States presidential election, 2008 timeline

Pre-primary campaign

"Front runner" status is dependent on the news agency reporting, but by October 2007, the consensus listed about six candidates as leading the pack. For example, CNN listed Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Rudolph Giuliani, Barack Obama, Fred Thompson, and Mitt Romney as the front runners. The Washington Post listed Clinton, Edwards and Obama as the Democratic frontrunners, "leading in polls and fundraising and well ahead of the other major candidates".[22] MSNBC's Chuck Todd christened Giuliani and John McCain the Republican front runners after the second Republican presidential debate.[23]

Three candidates, Clinton, Obama, and Romney, raised over $20 million in the first three months of 2007, and three others, Edwards, Giuliani, and McCain, raised over $12 million; the next closest candidate was Bill Richardson, who raised over $6 million.[24] In the third quarter of 2007, the top four GOP (Republican) fund raisers were Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, and Ron Paul.[25] Paul set the GOP record for the largest online single day fund raising on November 5, 2007.[26] Hillary Clinton set the Democratic record for largest single day fund raising in a primary on June 30, 2007.[27]

Primaries and caucuses

Main articles: Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008 and Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008

Technically the nomination process for both major political parties continues through June. In previous cycles the candidates were effectively chosen by the end of the March primaries. This trend continued in 2008 on the Republican side, as John McCain locked up the nomination with victories in Texas and Ohio on March 4. Democrat Barack Obama did not win the nomination until June 3, after a long campaign against Hillary Clinton. Obama had a wide lead in states won, but since 1976 Democratic state delegate contests have been decided by a form of proportional representation, and continuing popular votes for Clinton continued the contest.[28] Clinton claimed a lead in the popular vote, but the Associated Press found her numbers accurate only in one very close scenario.[29]

During late 2007, both parties adopted rules against states' moving their primaries to an earlier date in the year. For the Republicans, the penalty for this violation was supposed to be the loss of half the state party's delegates to the convention. The Democratic Party allowed only four states to hold elections before February 5, 2008. Initially the Democratic Party leadership said it would strip all Democratic delegates from Florida and Michigan, which had moved their primaries into January. All major Democratic candidates agreed officially not to campaign in Florida or Michigan, and Edwards and Obama removed their names from the Michigan ballot. Clinton won a majority of delegates from both states (though 40% voted uncommitted) and subsequently led a fight to seat all the Florida and Michigan delegates.[30]

Political columnist Christopher Weber noted that while her action was self-serving, it was also pragmatic to forestall Florida or Michigan voters becoming so disaffected they did not vote for Democrats in the general election.[31] There was some speculation that the fight over the delegates could last until the convention in August. On May 31, 2008, the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic Party reached a compromise to allow delegates from Michigan and Florida to receive half a vote each.[32]

January 2008

At the start of the year, support for Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama began rising in the polls, passing longtime front runners Romney and Clinton for first place in Iowa: the two upstart campaigns were triumphant. John McCain displaced Rudy Giuliani and Romney as the front-runner in New Hampshire.

Obama was the new front runner in New Hampshire and the Clinton campaign was struggling. However, in a turning point for her campaign, Clinton's voice wavered with emotion in a public interview broadcast live on TV.[33] By the end of that day, Clinton won the primary by 2 points, contrary to the predictions of pollsters who had her as much as twelve points behind on the day of the primary itself.

Huckabee had little money and hoped for a third-place finish. Like Clinton, McCain staged a turnaround victory, having been written off by the pundits and polling in single digits less than a month before.[34]

With the Republicans' stripping Michigan and Florida of half their delegates, the Republican race was based there. The Democrats focused on Nevada and South Carolina, which had been given special permission to have early contests; in South Carolina Obama got 55% of the vote. Meanwhile, McCain managed a small victory in South Carolina, setting him up for a larger and more important victory in Florida soon after.

February 2008

Barack Obama campaigns in Akron, Ohio on February 23rd.

On February 3 on the UCLA campus, celebrities Oprah Winfrey, Caroline Kennedy and Stevie Wonder, among others, made appearances to show support for Barack Obama in a rally led by Michelle Obama.[35] Obama trailed in the California polling by an average of 6.0%; he ended up losing the state by 8.3%.[36] Some analysts cited a large Latino turnout as the deciding factor.[37] On the Republican side, John McCain was endorsed by Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rudy Giuliani (who had dropped out of the race following the Florida primary), giving McCain a significant boost in California state.[38] Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, endorsed Obama.[39] By February 4, it was apparent that McCain might be able to wrap up the nomination quickly, while the Democratic candidates were hoping for a swing of momentum following the February 5 primaries.

Super Tuesday: On February 5, 2008, the largest-ever simultaneous number of state United States presidential primary elections was held.[40] Twenty-four states and American Samoa held either caucuses or primary elections for one or both parties on this date, leaving the Democrats in a virtual tie, and John McCain just short of clinching the Republican nod.[41] A few days later, Mitt Romney suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed McCain, leaving Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul as the only major challengers of McCain in the remaining Republican primaries.[42]

Louisiana and Washington voted for both parties on February 9, while Nebraska and the U.S. Virgin Islands voted for the Democrats and Kansas voted for the Republicans. Obama swept all four Democratic contests, as well as the Maine caucuses the next day,[43] and Huckabee also came out on top in Kansas, winning by an even greater percentage. The District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia voted for both parties on February 12 in what was referred to as Potomac primary. Obama won all three for the Democrats (giving him eight consecutive victories after Super Tuesday) and McCain took all three for the Republicans.

Obama carried both Hawaii and Wisconsin, the last two states that voted for the Democrats in February, on the 19th.[44] Wisconsin and Washington voted for the Republicans on February 19; John McCain won these states.[44] The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico closed February for the Republicans, on the 23rd and 24th.

March 2008

For the Republicans, on March 1 American Samoa voted. March 4 was dubbed by some as this year's Mini Tuesday,[45] when the delegate-rich states of Texas and Ohio, along with Rhode Island and Vermont, voted for both parties. Wyoming then voted for the Democrats and Guam voted for the Republicans on March 8. Mississippi voted for both parties on March 11.

On March 4, Hillary Clinton carried Ohio and Rhode Island in the Democratic primaries; some considered this a surprise upset,[46] though she led in the polling averages in both states.[36][47] She also carried the primary in Texas, but Obama won the Texas caucuses held the same day and netted more delegates from the state than Clinton.[48] John McCain clinched the Republican nomination after sweeping all four primaries, Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island, putting him over the top of the 1,191 delegates required to win the GOP nomination.[47] Mike Huckabee conceded the race to McCain, leaving Ron Paul, who had just 16 delegates, as his only remaining opponent for the Republican nomination.[49] In the Wyoming Democratic caucuses, Obama edged out Clinton to gain 7 delegates to her 5, and three days later he beat her again, 59%–39%, in Mississippi.

April through June 2008

Only one state voted in April: Pennsylvania, which held a primary for both parties on April 22. Hillary Clinton won this Democratic primary, with approximately 55% of the vote. Barack Obama won the Guam caucuses on May 3 by 7 votes out of more than 4,500. On May 6, Hillary Clinton won the Indiana primary with 51% of the vote while Barack Obama won in North Carolina with 56% of the vote. Nebraska's Republican and West Virginia's Democratic primaries were held on May 13. In West Virginia, Clinton won with 67% of the vote and 20 of 28 pledged delegates. On May 20, Kentucky and Oregon held primaries for both parties. In Kentucky, Clinton won with 65% of the vote to Obama's 31%. In Oregon, Obama defeated Clinton, by a margin of 18%. Idaho voted for Republicans only on May 27. On May 31, Democratic Party officials, after a tense meeting between Clinton supporters and Obama backers, voted to seat all of Florida and Michigan's delegates at the party's convention, with each getting a half-vote.[50] Puerto Rico held a Democratic primary on June 1, which Clinton won with 68% of the vote to Obama's 32%. The primary season ended on June 3, with contests in New Mexico (Republican), Montana (Democratic), and South Dakota (both parties). Clinton won South Dakota's primary, while Obama was victorious in the Montana primary. As expected, John McCain won all the states during this time period handily, though typically 20-25% of the vote in the Republican primaries went to Huckabee and Paul, despite the fact both had already been mathematically eliminated from contention for the nomination.

July 2008

Further information: Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008#"Israel for Obama" Campaign

The Illinois Senator Barack Obama took a Middle East trip from Afghanistan to Iraq, Jordan and Israel where a small "Israel for Obama" rally was held for him.[51][52][53]

Party conventions

Presidential and vice-presidential debates

Main article: United States presidential election debates, 2008

Four debates were announced by the Commission on Presidential Debates:[54]

  • September 26: The first presidential debate took place at the University of Mississippi. The central issues debated were foreign policy and national security. The debate was formatted into nine nine-minute segments, and the moderator (Jim Lehrer) introduced the topics.[55]
  • October 2: The vice-presidential debate was hosted at Washington University in St. Louis, and was moderated by Gwen Ifill of PBS.
  • October 7: The second presidential debate took place at Belmont University. It was a town meeting format debate moderated by NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, and addressed issues raised by members of the audience, particularly the economy.
  • October 15: The third and final presidential debate was hosted at Hofstra University. It focused on domestic and economic policy. Like the first presidential debate, it was formatted into a number of segments, with moderator Bob Schieffer introducing the topics.

Another debate was sponsored by the Columbia University political union and took place there on October 19. All candidates who could theoretically win the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election were invited, and Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, and Chuck Baldwin agreed to attend. Amy Goodman, principal host of Democracy Now!, moderated. It was broadcast on cable by C-SPAN and on the Internet by Break-the-Matrix.[56][57]

Campaign costs

Main article: Fundraising for the 2008 United States presidential election

The reported cost of campaigning for President has increased significantly in recent years. One source reported that if the costs for both Democratic and Republican campaigns are added together (for the Presidential primary election, general election, and the political conventions) the costs have more than doubled in only eight years ($448.9 million in 1996, $649.5 million in 2000, and $1.01 billion in 2004).[58] In January 2007, Federal Election Commission Chairman Michael E. Toner estimated the 2008 race will be a $1 billion election, and that to be taken seriously, a candidate needed to raise at least $100 million by the end of 2007.[59]

Although he had said he would not be running for president, published reports indicated that billionaire and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg had been considering a presidential bid as an independent with up to $1 billion of his own fortune to finance it.[60] Bloomberg ultimately ended this speculation by unequivocally stating that he would not run.[61] Had Bloomberg decided to run, he would not have needed to campaign in the primary elections or participate in the conventions, greatly reducing both the necessary length and cost of his campaign.

With the increase in money, the public financing system funded by the presidential election campaign fund checkoff has not been used by many candidates. John McCain,[62] Tom Tancredo,[63] John Edwards,[64] Chris Dodd,[65] and Joe Biden[66] qualified for and elected to take public funds in the primary. Other major candidates eschewed the low amount of spending permitted, or gave other reasons as in the case of Barack Obama, and have chosen not to participate.

Internet campaigns

Howard Dean collected large contributions via the internet in his 2004 primary run. In 2008 candidates went even further to reach out to Internet users through their own sites and such sites as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook.[67][68]

Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama created a broad grassroots movement and a new method of campaigning by courting and mobilizing activists, donations and voters through the Internet. It was part of a campaign that mobilized grassroots workers in every state. Obama also set fundraising records in more than one month by gaining support from a record-breaking number of individual small donors.[69]

On December 16, 2007, Ron Paul collected $6 million, more money on a single day through Internet donations than any presidential candidate in US history.[70]

Anonymous and semi-anonymous smear campaigns traditionally done with fliers and push calling also spread to the Internet.[71] Organizations specializing in the production and distribution of viral material, such as Brave New Films, emerged; such organizations have been said to be having a growing influence on American politics.[72]

Criticism of media coverage

Significant criticism was leveled at media outlets' coverage of the presidential election season. At the February debate, Tim Russert of NBC News was criticized for what some perceived as disproportionately tough questioning of Clinton.[73] Among the questions, Russert had asked Clinton, but not Obama, to provide the name of the new Russian President (Dmitry Medvedev).[73] This was later parodied on Saturday Night Live. In October 2007, liberal commentators accused Russert of harassing Clinton over the issue of supporting drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants.[74]

On April 16 ABC News hosted a debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 16. Moderators Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos were criticized by viewers, bloggers and media critics for the poor quality of their questions.[73][74] Many viewers said they considered some of the questions irrelevant when measured against the importance of the faltering economy or the Iraq war. Included in that category were continued questions about Obama’s former pastor, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s assertion that she had to duck sniper fire in Bosnia more than a decade ago, and Senator Obama's not wearing an American flag pin.[73] The moderators focused on campaign gaffes and some believed they focused too much on Obama.[74] Stephanopoulos defended their performance, saying "Senator Obama was the front-runner" and the questions were "not inappropriate or irrelevant at all."[73][74]

In an op-ed published on 2008 April 27 in The New York Times, Elizabeth Edwards bemoaned that the media covered much more of "the rancor of the campaign" and "amount of money spent" than "the candidates' priorities, policies and principles."[75] Author Erica Jong commented that "our press has become a sea of triviality, meanness and irrelevant chatter."[76]

The Project for Excellence in Journalism and Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy conducted a study of 5,374 media narratives and assertions about the presidential candidates from 2008 January 1 through 2008 March 9. The study found that Obama and Clinton received 69 percent and 67 percent favorable coverage, respectively, compared to only 43 percent favorable media coverage of McCain [77] although another study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University found the media coverage of Obama to be 72% negative from June 8 to July 21 compared to 57% negative fo McCain. [78] An October 29 study found 29 percent of stories about Obama to be negative, compared to 57 percent of stories about McCain being negative. [79]

A 2008 October 22 Pew Research Center poll estimated 70 percent of registered voters believed journalists wanted Barack Obama to win the election, as opposed to 9 percent for John McCain.[80]

Despite controversy during the campaign, a post-election Pew research survey found that 67% of voters thought that the press fairly covered Obama, versus 30% who viewed the coverage as unfair. Regarding McCain, 53% of voters viewed his press coverage as fair versus 44% who characterized it as unfair. Among affiliated Democrats, 83% believed the press fairly covered Obama; just 22% of Republicans thought the press was fair to McCain. In a post-election survey in 2004, after Republican George Bush won the presidency, 40% of Republicans thought the press was fair to Bush, and 67% of Democrats believed it was fair to Kerry. [81]

Election Day

Final poll closing times on Election Day.      7PM EST [00:00 UTC] (6)      7:30PM EST [00:30 UTC] (3)      8PM EST [01:00 UTC] (15+DC)      8:30PM EST [01:30 UTC] (1)      9PM EST [02:00 UTC] (15)      10PM EST [03:00 UTC] (4)      11PM EST [04:00 UTC] (5)      1AM EST [06:00 UTC] (1)

All American networks called the election in favor of Barack Obama at 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time as the polls closed on the west coast with the Electoral College totals being 297 for Obama and 146 for McCain. Senator McCain gave a concession speech about half an hour later. President-elect Barack Obama appeared at midnight Eastern time, November 5, in Grant Park in front of a crowd of two-hundred fifty thousand people to deliver his acceptance speech.[83]

Following Obama's speech, spontaneous street parties broke out in major cities across the United States, in cities such as New York, Miami, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Seattle, Washington DC, San Francisco, Denver, Atlanta, Madison and Philadelphia[84]; and around the world in Bonn and Berlin, Germany; Obama, Japan[85]; Toronto, Canada; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Sydney, Australia; and Kenya.[86]

After Election Day

  • December 15, 2008: Members of the U.S. Electoral College meet in each state to cast their votes for President and Vice President.[dated info]
  • January 8, 2009: Electoral votes officially tallied before both Houses of Congress.[dated info] Members of Congress may object to the certification of a state's electoral votes at this time.
  • January 20, 2009: Inauguration Day.[dated info]

Election results

Grand total

File:20081117 Barack Obama Streetlight Banner.JPG
Streetlight banner from Richard M. Daley in Hyde Park community area shows Obama's political image as one of Chicago's own.

Popular vote totals are unofficial.[87] Electoral vote projections per television network coverage (primarily CNN, ABC News, NBC News).

Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral
vote 		Running mate Running mate's
home state 		Running mate's
electoral vote
Count Pct
Barack Obama Democratic Illinois 68,588,471 52.81% 365 Joe Biden Delaware 365
John McCain Republican Arizona 59,485,641 45.80% 173 Sarah Palin Alaska 173
Ralph Nader — Connecticut 727,259 0.56% 0 Matt Gonzalez California 0
Bob Barr Libertarian Georgia 523,781 0.40% 0 Wayne Allyn Root Nevada 0
Chuck Baldwin Constitution Florida 191,608 0.15% 0 Darrell Castle Tennessee 0
Cynthia McKinney Green California 158,620 0.12% 0 Rosa Clemente North Carolina 0

Template:U.S. presidential ticket box other

Total 129,870,949 100% 538 538
Needed to win 270 270

Turnout

The voter turnout for this election was broadly predicted to be very high,[88] by American standards and a record number of votes were cast. The current total number of votes tallied is almost 130 million, compared to 122.3 million in 2004 (which also boasted the highest record since 1968, after which the voting age was set at 18). Expressed as a percentage of eligible voters turnout was estimated to be around 62%.[89]

Popular vote

Popular vote by county. Red represents counties that went for McCain, Blue represents counties that went for Obama. Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont had all counties go to Obama. Oklahoma had all counties go to McCain.
States/districts won by Obama/Biden
States/districts won by McCain/Palin

Vote totals

Further information: United States presidential election: The popular vote on Election Day

Projections based on published official or unofficial state election board results, where available; otherwise, on television network coverage. Edit notes identify the popular vote source for each state. Bold indicates actual vote count leader.

StateObamaMcCainNaderBarrBaldwinMcKinneyOthers
Alabama 813,479 1,266,546 6,788 4,991 4,310 0 3,705
Alaska 122,485 192,631 3,757 1,575 1,652 0 1,720
Arizona 1,034,707 1,230,111 11,301 12,555 1,371 3,406 24
Arkansas 418,049 632,672 12,808 4,707 4,000 3,433 Gloria La Riva 1,089
California 8,063,473 4,902,278 105,375 65,654 0 37,432 Alan Keyes 39,620
Colorado 1,216,793 1,020,135 12,542 10,264 5,872 2,573 5,545
Connecticut 1,000,994 628,873 18,410 199 49 35
Delaware 255,446 152,373 2,401 1,109 626 385 Roger Calero 58
District of Columbia 245,800 17,367 958 590 1,138
Florida 4,282,074 4,045,624 28,124 17,218 7,915 2,887 6,903
Georgia 1,844,137 2,048,744 1,123 28,812 1,305 249 62
Hawaii 325,871 120,566 3,825 1,314 1,013 979
Idaho 236,440 403,012 7,175 4,747 3,658
Illinois 3,419,673 2,031,527 30,952 19,645 8,256 11,838 1,160
Indiana 1,374,039 1,345,648 909 29,257 1024 87 95
Iowa 828,940 682,379 8,014 4,590 4,445 1,423 7,029
Kansas 514,765 699,655 10,527 6,706 4,148 35 36
Kentucky 751,985 1,048,462 15,378 5,989 4,694
Louisiana 782,989 1,148,275 6,997 2,581 9,187 10,732
Maine 421,923 295,273 10,636 2,900 431
Maryland 1,628,995 959,694 14,710 9,839 3,759 4,745 135
Massachusetts 1,891,083 1,104,284 28,520 12,999 5,023 6,528
Michigan 2,872,579 2,048,639 33,085 23,716 14,685 8,892 170
Minnesota 1,573,354 1,275,409 30,152 9,174 6,787 5,174 10,319
Mississippi 520,864 687,266 3,727 2,425 2,447 1,086 470
Missouri[90] 1,441,911 1,445,814 17,813 11,386 8,201 80
Montana 231,667 242,763 3,686 1,355 143 23 Ron Paul 10,638
Nebraska[91] 329,132 448,801 5,306 2,684 2,927 1,002
1st Dist. 118,588 146,140 1,934 906 1,023 392
2nd Dist. 134,168 132,908 1,502 533 560 292 mail-in ballots[92]
3rd Dist. 71,867 167,212 1,789 789 1,335 305
Nevada 533,736 412,827 6,150 4,263 3,194 1,411 6,267
New Hampshire 384,826 316,534 3,503 2,217 531
New Jersey 2,181,035 1,599,495 21,059 8,350 3,699 3,585 10,315
New Mexico 472,211 346,824 5,327 2,428 1,597 1,551
New York 4,363,386 2,576,360 38,048 22,292 12,031 8,001
North Carolina 2,142,569 2,128,390 25,722 13,942
North Dakota 141,278 168,601 4,189 1,354 1,199
Ohio 2,887,114 2,647,538 41,403 19,634 12,418 8,373 17,402
Oklahoma 502,496 960,165
Oregon 1,037,263 738,399 18,613 7,635 7,693 4,542 13,276
Pennsylvania 3,234,949 2,634,115 42,684 19,739
Rhode Island 296,571 165,391 4,829 1,382 675 797 122
South Carolina 862,449 1,034,896 5,053 7,283 6,827 4,461
South Dakota 170,924 203,054 4,267 1,835 1,895
Tennessee 1,085,720 1,477,405 11,882 8,540 8,182 2,498 2,336
Texas 3,528,633 4,479,328 5,214 56,116 5,052 671 2,781
Utah 327,670 596,030 8,416 6,966 12,012 982 294
Vermont 219,262 98,974 3,339 1,067 500 1,904
Virginia 1,959,532 1,725,005 11,483 11,067 7,474 2,344 6,355
Washington 1,750,848 1,229,216 29,489 12,728 9,432 3,819 1,346
West Virginia 302,273 394,922 7,182 2,454 2,356
Wisconsin 1,677,211 1,262,393 17,605 8,858 5,072 4,216 8,062
Wyoming 82,868 164,958 2,525 1,594 1,192 1,521
U.S. Total 68,588,471 59,485,641 727,259 523,781 191,608 158,620 195,569

Close states/districts

States/districts in the 2008 United States Presidential election where the margin of victory was less than 5%. Blue states/districts went for Obama, red for McCain. Yellow states were won by either candidate by 5% or more. Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia and Iowa were won by Bush in 2004 but were won by Obama by a margin of more than 5% in 2008.

These results are provisional and are subject to change until they are made official by each state. Red font color denotes states won by Republican John McCain; blue denotes those won by Democrat Barack Obama.

States where the margin of victory was under 5%

  1. Missouri 0.13%
  2. North Carolina 0.33%
  3. Nebraska's 2nd congressional district 0.47%
  4. Indiana 1.04%
  5. Montana 2.26%
  6. Florida 2.82%
  7. Ohio 4.25%

States where the margin of victory was between 5% and 10%

  1. Georgia 5.21%
  2. Virginia 6.30%
  3. South Dakota 8.41%
  4. Arizona 8.52%
  5. North Dakota 8.63%
  6. Colorado 8.65%
  7. South Carolina 8.98%
  8. Iowa 9.57%
  9. New Hampshire 9.65%

Finance

  • Barack Obama (D) $659,697,818 / 68,465,974 = $9.64 per vote
  • John McCain (R) $368,609,473 / 59,417,826 = $6.20
  • Ralph Nader (i) $4,109,285 / 726,462 = $5.66
  • Bob Barr (L) $1,240,265 / 532,995 = $2.33
  • Chuck Baldwin (C) $261,673 / 191,340 = $1.37
  • Cynthia McKinney (G) $187,852 / 158,427 = $1.19
  • (money spent / total votes = average spent per vote)

Excludes spending by independent expenditure concerns.

Source: FEC[93]

Ballot access

Presidential ticket Party Ballot access[94]
Obama / Biden Democratic 50+DC
McCain / Palin Republican 50+DC
Nader / Gonzalez Independent 45+DC
Barr / Root Libertarian 45
Baldwin / Castle Constitution 37
McKinney / Clemente Green 32

No other candidate had ballot access in enough states to win 270 electoral votes.

Analysis

Prior to the election, commentators discussed whether Senator Obama would be able to redraw the electoral map by winning states that had been voting for Republican candidates in recent decades.[95] In many ways, he was successful. He won every region of the country by double digits except the South, which the Republicans won by less than double digits (9 points). He won Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia in the South (region as defined by the US Census Bureau.) The Republicans "took the South only because McCain, who ran roughly even with Obama among whites in every other region, won Southern whites by 38 percentage points."[96]

Obama was the first presidential candidate to split the electoral votes from Nebraska. Together with Maine, Nebraska is one of two states that split their electoral votes. Obama won the electoral vote from Nebraska's 2nd congressional district which contains Omaha. Nebraska's other four electoral votes went to John McCain.

Obama's raw popular vote margin of victory (9,048,148 votes) was the largest ever for a non-incumbent presidential candidate, and the sixth largest absolute margin of victory of all time. Obama's popular vote percentage (52.8%) is also the highest for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and is the highest overall since George H.W. Bush was elected president in 1988.

International reaction

Main article: International reaction to the 2008 United States presidential election

The American presidential election was followed closely internationally. When it was clear that Obama was victorious, many world leaders sent congratulations and well-wishes to the President-elect.

Opinion polling

Acceptance and concession speeches

Obama
Main article: Barack Obama presidential acceptance speech
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer..."
"...It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America..."
"...The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there...."
"...This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can."
"And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down, we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security, we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright, tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope."
McCain[97]
"...My friends, we have — we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly..."
"...To congratulate him [Obama] on being elected the next president of the country that we both love..."
"...In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving..."
"...This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight..."
"...I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here..."

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: United States presidential election, 2008


Other elections

References

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