2008 United States presidential election in Connecticut

The 2008 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 7 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Main article: 2008 United States presidential election
2008 United States presidential election in Connecticut
November 4, 2008
 
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Arizona
Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin
Electoral vote 7 0
Popular vote 997,773 629,428
Percentage 60.59% 38.22%
County Results
Obama
  50-60%
  60-70%

President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

 Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elections in Connecticut

Connecticut was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama with a 22.4% margin of victory. Connecticut was 1 of the 6 states that had every county—including traditionally Republican Litchfield County—go for Obama, the others being Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Connecticut has not voted for a Republican presidential nominee since 1988 when the state was carried by George H.W. Bush over Michael Dukakis.

Primaries
  • Connecticut Democratic primary, 2008
  • Connecticut Republican primary, 2008

Campaign

Predictions

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

Polling

Barack Obama won every single poll taken in the state, and every one of them by a double-digit margin of victory.

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $3,966,985. Barack Obama raised $9,727,617.[14]

Advertising and visits

Obama spent $730,335 while McCain spent nothing on the state.[15] Neither campaign visited the state.[16]

Analysis

Connecticut is a part of New England, an area of the country that has recently turned into a Democratic stronghold. The state went Republican in almost every election from 1952 to 1988, the exceptions being the three that took place in the 1960s. However, Bill Clinton narrowly carried it in 1992, and the state has not been seriously contested since. McCain ceded the state to Obama early on, despite Independent Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman's endorsement.

In 2006, Democrats knocked off two incumbent Republicans and picked up two U.S. House seats in CT-02 and CT-05 (Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy, respectively). Although then-Governor M. Jodi Rell and Lieutenant Governor Michael Fedele were both moderate Republicans, all other statewide offices were held by Democrats. Democrats also enjoyed a supermajority status in both chambers of the Connecticut state legislature.

In 2008, Democrat Jim Himes defeated incumbent Republican Christopher Shays, who was at the time the only Republican member of the U.S. House from New England, for the U.S. House seat in Connecticut's 4th congressional district. This was largely because Obama carried the district with a staggering 60% of the vote—one of his best performances in a Republican-held district. Shays' defeat meant that for the first time in almost 150 years, there were no Republican Representatives from New England. In no other part of the country is a major political party completely shut out. At the same time at the state level, Democrats picked up 6 seats in the Connecticut House of Representatives and 1 seat in the Connecticut Senate.

As of the 2016 presidential election, this is the last election in which Litchfield County voted for the Democratic candidate.

Results
2008 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Barack Obama 997,773 60.59% 7
Republican John McCain 629,428 38.22% 0
Independent Ralph Nader 19,162 1.16% 0
Constitution (Write-in) Chuck Baldwin (Write-in) 311 0.02% 0
Green (Write-in) Cynthia A. McKinney (Write-in) 90 0.01% 0
Socialist (Write-in) Brian Moore (Write-in) 19 0.00% 0
Socialist Workers (Write-in) Roger Calero (Write-in) 10 0.00% 0
Totals 1,646,793 100.00% 7
Voter turnout (voting age population) 62.1%

Results breakdown

By county
County Obama% Obama# McCain% McCain# Others% Others# Total
Fairfield 58.73% 242,936 40.55% 167,736 0.71% 2,955 413,627
Hartford 65.18% 268,721 33.71% 138,984 1.11% 4,593 412,298
Litchfield 51.63% 51,041 46.71% 46,173 1.66% 1,643 98,857
Middlesex 60.78% 52,983 37.76% 32,918 1.46% 1,276 87,177
New Haven 61.10% 233,589 37.84% 144,650 1.06% 4,072 382,311
New London 59.92% 74,776 38.86% 48,491 1.23% 1,529 124,796
Tolland 59.70% 45,053 38.78% 29,266 1.52% 1,148 75,467
Windham 56.47% 28,673 41.77% 21,210 1.76% 896 50,779

By congressional district

Barack Obama carried all 5 of Connecticut’s congressional districts.

District McCain Obama Representative
1st 32.73% 65.95% John Larson
2nd 40.07% 58.48% Joe Courtney
3rd 36.28% 62.50% Rosa DeLauro
4th 39.64% 59.70% Christopher Shays (110th Congress)
Jim Himes (111th Congress)
5th 42.40% 56.34% Chris Murphy

Electors
Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Connecticut cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Connecticut is allocated 7 electors because it has 5 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 7 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all sevenelectoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.[17] An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 7 were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:[18]

  1. Shirley Steinmetz
  2. Nicholas Paindiris
  3. Andrea Jackson Brooks
  4. Jim Ezzes
  5. Lorraine McQueen
  6. Deborah McFadden
  7. Ken Delacruz
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References
  1. "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". Archived from the original on 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  2. Presidential | The Cook Political Report Archived May 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Adnaan (2008-09-20). "Track the Electoral College vote predictions". The Takeaway. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  4. Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily
  5. Based on Takeaway
  6. POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com
  7. RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map
  8. CQ Politics | CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008 Archived June 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Electoral College Map". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  10. "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  11. "Winning the Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
  12. roadto270
  13. Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™
  14. "Presidential Campaign Finance". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
  15. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  16. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  17. "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  18. U. S. Electoral College 2008 Election - Certificates

See also
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