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Barack Obama 2008 presidential primary campaign

Obama for America

2008 Obama presidential campaign logo
CampaignU.S. Democratic presidential primaries, 2008
CandidateBarack Obama
U.S. Senator 2005–2008
AffiliationDemocratic Party
StatusAnnounced February 10, 2007
Presumptive nominee June 3, 2008
Official nominee August 27, 2008
Headquarters233 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Key peopleSen. Joe Biden (VP Running Mate)
David Plouffe (Manager)
Penny Pritzker (Finance)
David Axelrod (Media)
Robert Gibbs (Communications)
ReceiptsUS$287.4 (May 31, 2008)
Slogan
ChantYes We Can
Website
www.barackobama.com

On February 10, 2007, Barack Obama, then-junior United States senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois. Obama announced his candidacy at the Old State Capitol building, where Abraham Lincoln had delivered his "House Divided" speech.[1] Obama was the main challenger, along with John Edwards, to front-runner Hillary Clinton for much of 2007. He had only recently emerged as a national figure in Democratic politics, having delivered the DNC keynote address just three years prior and won his Senate election shortly thereafter.

Obama's initial victory in the Iowa caucus in January 2008 helped bring him to national prominence from a crowded field of Democratic challengers. Obama benefited from early support from prominent Democrats including Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy, and his campaign began to trade a series of hard-fought state wins with Clinton through Super Tuesday, in which Obama had great success in large rural states and Clinton was nearly as dominant in high-population coastal areas. Obama continued to have success in small donor fundraising,[2] and continued winning a greater number of contests than Clinton through April.

In early May, after Obama won the North Carolina primary and narrowly lost the Indiana primary, superdelegates began to endorse Obama in greater numbers. Obama's win in Oregon gave him an absolute majority of the pledged delegates. After a rush of support for Obama from superdelegates on June 3, the day of the final primary contests of Montana and South Dakota, Obama was estimated to surpass the 2,118 delegates required for the Democratic nomination.[3] On June 7, Clinton formally ended her candidacy and endorsed Obama, making him the party's presumptive nominee.[4]

On August 27, 2008, at the Democratic National Convention, the Democratic Party formally nominated Obama to run for the office of the President of the United States of America. Obama would go on to win the presidential election against Republican nominee John McCain.

  1. ^ Tapper, Jake; Katie Hinman (February 10, 2007). "Obama Declares His Candidacy". ABC News. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
  2. ^ Luo, Michael (February 20, 2008). "Small Online Contributions Add Up to Huge Fund-raising Edge for Obama". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 31, 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
  3. ^ "Democratic Scorecard". CNN. June 3, 2008. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2008.
  4. ^ "Clinton To End Campaign, Back Obama". CBS News. June 4, 2008.