2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries

2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries

← 2004 January 3 – June 3, 2008 2012 →
 
Candidate Barack Obama Hillary Clinton
Home state Illinois New York
Delegate count 2,272.5 1,978
Contests won 33 23
Popular vote 17,535,458[1][a] 17,493,836[1][a]
Percentage 48.1%[1] 48.0%[1]

2008 California Democratic presidential primary2008 Oregon Democratic presidential primary2008 Washington Democratic caucuses2008 Idaho Democratic caucuses2008 Nevada Democratic caucuses2008 Utah Democratic presidential primary2008 Arizona Democratic presidential primary2008 Montana Democratic presidential primary2008 Wyoming Democratic caucuses2008 Colorado Democratic caucuses2008 New Mexico Democratic presidential primary2008 North Dakota Democratic caucuses2008 South Dakota Democratic presidential primary2008 Nebraska Democratic caucuses2008 Kansas Democratic caucuses2008 Oklahoma Democratic presidential primary2008 Texas Democratic presidential primary and caucuses2008 Minnesota Democratic caucuses2008 Iowa Democratic caucuses2008 Missouri Democratic presidential primary2008 Arkansas Democratic presidential primary2008 Louisiana Democratic presidential primary2008 Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary2008 Illinois Democratic presidential primary2008 Michigan Democratic presidential primary2008 Indiana Democratic presidential primary2008 Ohio Democratic presidential primary2008 Kentucky Democratic presidential primary2008 Tennessee Democratic presidential primary2008 Mississippi Democratic presidential primary2008 Alabama Democratic presidential primary2008 Georgia Democratic presidential primary2008 Florida Democratic presidential primary2008 South Carolina Democratic presidential primary2008 North Carolina Democratic presidential primary2008 Virginia Democratic presidential primary2008 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary2008 District of Columbia Democratic presidential primary2008 Maryland Democratic presidential primary2008 Delaware Democratic presidential primary2008 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary2008 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary2008 New York Democratic presidential primary2008 Connecticut Democratic presidential primary2008 Rhode Island Democratic presidential primary2008 Vermont Democratic presidential primary2008 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary2008 Maine Democratic caucuses2008 Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary2008 Alaska Democratic caucuses2008 Hawaii Democratic caucuses2008 Puerto Rico Democratic presidential primary2008 U.S. Virgin Islands Democratic presidential convention2008 Guam Democratic territorial convention2008 American Samoa Democratic caucuses2008 Democrats Abroad primary
First place by first-instance vote

Previous Democratic nominee

John Kerry

Democratic nominee

Barack Obama

From January 3 to June 3, 2008, voters of the Democratic Party chose their nominee for president in the 2008 United States presidential election. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was selected as the nominee, becoming the first African American to secure the presidential nomination of any major political party in the United States. However, due to a close race between Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, the contest remained competitive for longer than expected; neither candidate received enough pledged delegates from state primaries and caucuses to achieve a majority, without endorsements from unpledged delegates (superdelegates).

The presidential primaries actually consisted of both primary elections and caucuses, depending upon what the individual state chose. The goal of the process was to elect the majority of the 4,233 delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, which was held from Sunday, August 25, through Wednesday, August 28, 2008, in Denver, Colorado. To secure the nomination, a candidate needed to receive at least 2,117 votes at the convention—or a simple majority of the 4,233 delegate votes. This total included half-votes from American Samoa, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, in addition to Democrats Abroad, as well as 'superdelegates'—party leaders and elected officials who were not chosen through a primary or caucus. The race was further complicated by a controversy over the scheduling of the Michigan and Florida state primaries, which had been scheduled earlier than party rules permitted, affecting the number of delegates that those states sent to the national convention.

The popular vote tally from most news organizations did not include Iowa, Maine, Nevada and Washington. These states did not release the results of the popular vote from their caucuses. The media reports did include Florida, which neither Clinton nor Obama contested, as well as Michigan. Both states were penalized by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for violating party rules. Michigan proved a source of controversy due to the change in the date of the primary election. Consequently, Obama and other candidates removed their names from the ballot yet Clinton did not. The DNC did not count the popular vote from Michigan, and evenly split the state's delegates between Clinton and Obama. As a result, without the Michigan vote, Obama won the popular vote; whereas with the votes from Michigan, Clinton won the popular vote.[3] Nevertheless, regardless of how votes were counted, the candidates' totals were within less than one percent of each other.[4]

Obama received enough superdelegate endorsements on June 3 to claim that he had secured the simple majority of delegates necessary to win the nomination, before Clinton conceded the nomination four days later.[5][6] Obama was nominated on the first ballot, at the August convention. He went on to win the general election, and became the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009. Clinton went on to serve as Obama's Secretary of State for his first term as president, and the Democratic nominee for president in 2016, although she lost to Donald Trump.

These primaries included the nominees for the next four elections (Obama again in 2012, Clinton in 2016, and Biden in 2020 and 2024) and it matches the amount of eventual nominees produced by the 1980 Republican primaries (Reagan in 1984, Bush in 1988 and 1992, and Dole in 1996).

  1. ^ a b c d e f "2008 Democratic Popular Vote". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  2. ^ Coomarasamy, Jamie (June 1, 2008). "Equal split masks Obama victory". BBC News. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  3. ^ "Democratic Vote Count". Real Clear Politics. January 29, 2008. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  4. ^ "Clinton and the Popular Vote". FactCheck.org. June 5, 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  5. ^ Weisman, Jonathan; et al. (June 4, 2008). "Strategy Was Based On Winning Delegates, Not Battlegrounds". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 4, 2008.
  6. ^ Pickler, Nedra (May 24, 2008). "AP: Obama's Political Team Out-Organized Clinton". The Huffington Post. Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved March 7, 2012.


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