2008 United States presidential election in Missouri

The 2008 United States presidential election in Missouri was held on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election, which took place throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

2008 United States presidential election in Missouri

November 4, 2008
 
Nominee John McCain Barack Obama
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Arizona Illinois
Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden
Electoral vote 11 0
Popular vote 1,445,814 1,441,911
Percentage 49.36% 49.23%

County Results

President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Missouri was won by Republican nominee John McCain by 3,903 votes, a 0.13% margin of victory. Prior to the election, most news organizations considered this state a toss-up, or a swing state. On election day, Missouri was the closest state in 2008, with some news organizations not calling the state until two weeks after the election. A high turnout of voters in the GOP strongholds of Greene County (Springfield) and St. Charles County combined with Democrat Barack Obama's lackluster performance in the more rural parts of the state gave the edge to Republican John McCain. The state was so close that Obama could have legally called for a recount, but since he had already won the presidency, he saw no need to do so as the results would have been meaningless in the national totals. It was the first time since 1956, and only the second time since 1900, that Missouri did not vote for the winner of the presidency. The same of which would also occur four years later when Mitt Romney won the state over Obama, and again when Donald Trump carried the state over Joe Biden in 2020.

Combined with the state's swing to the right in 2000 and 2004 and the further bleeding of Democratic support in white, rural areas, this would be the last time when Missouri was seriously contested, and considered to be a swing/bellwether state. This is the first time since 1980 that Missouri voted to the right of North Carolina. The state continued moving deeper and safer into the Republican side four years later and onward; this is the most recent election when the Republican candidate won less than 50% of the state's popular vote. This is also the last time that Iron County, Jefferson County, Washington County, Ste. Genevieve County, and Buchanan County voted for the Democratic candidate.

Primaries

Campaign

With the advent of the September financial crisis, Obama began to look viable. John McCain's lead diminished and then disappeared; for several weeks Obama even led Missouri polls.[1] Obama started visiting Republican-leaning states, including Missouri. In one of the more memorable trips of the campaign, he drew crowds of 75,000 at Kansas City and 100,000 at St. Louis.[2] However, John McCain's campaign managed to close the gap and most polls showed a dead tie on and before Election Day.

Although seven of Missouri's eight neighboring states offered the option of early voting, the option was not available in Missouri.[3] Election results must go through a certification process before they are official; local election officials had until November 18 to verify their results and process the provisional ballots cast throughout Missouri.[3]

Predictions

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

Polling

Throughout the general election, McCain consistently won the state's pre-election polls, even reaching above 50% in some of them. In the fall campaign, polls were back and forth with both. In the last few weeks when Obama was having the momentum, the final 5 polls taken in the state were all a tie.[18]

Here are the final polls in the state:

Poll Source Date administered Democrat % Republican % Lead Margin
Reuters/Zogby October 31-
November 3, 2008
Barack Obama 48.8% John McCain 48.8%
0
Rasmussen Reports/
Fox News
November 2, 2008 Barack Obama 49% John McCain 49%
0
Public Policy Polling October 31 – November 2, 2008 Barack Obama 49.4% John McCain 48.6%
0.8
Reuters/Zogby October 30-
November 2, 2008
Barack Obama 47.4% John McCain 45.7%
1.7
Survey USA October 30 – November 2, 2008 Barack Obama 48% John McCain 48%
0

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $2,904,162 in the state. Barack Obama raised $4,999,812.[19]

Advertising and visits

Obama and his interest groups spent $11,323,706. McCain and his interest groups spent $9,428,559.[20]

The Democratic ticket visited the state 13 times throughout the general election. The Republican ticket visited here 14 times.[21]

McCain's Visits:

Obama's Visits:

Analysis

For the better part of a century, Missouri has been reckoned as the nation's bellwether state. Prior to 2008, since 1904, Missouri had voted for the winner in every presidential election except in 1956 when the state narrowly voted for Democrat Adlai Stevenson of neighboring Illinois over incumbent Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In recent years, however, it has gradually been trending Republican. Although Bill Clinton of neighboring Arkansas won the state with ease during both of his elections in 1992 and 1996, Al Gore and John Kerry considered the Show-Me State a lost cause and did not campaign much there. Although Barack Obama is from neighboring Illinois, at first he likewise put the state as a secondary concern in relation to other swing states such as Ohio and Virginia where he thought he had more of a chance. As his lead diminished in the summer months, he and McCain moved the campaign to more Democratic-friendly states, as McCain maintained a comfortable polling lead in Missouri. Similar hypothetical general match-up polls taken between McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton, however, showed Clinton always leading in Missouri.

A record 2.9 million Missourians, or 69% of eligible voters, cast their ballots in the general election, about 200,000 more than the previous record in the 2004 election.[32]

On Election Day, John McCain clung to a tiny lead, with absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted. By Wednesday, November 19, McCain led President-elect Obama by 1,445,813–1,441,910 votes,[3] or approximately 0.14% of the total popular vote in Missouri. CNN called the state for McCain that day.[33] The 2008 presidential election was only the second time in 104 years that it had not voted for the winner of the general election. Missouri was, however, the closest state of the 2008 election.

The Democratic base of Missouri rests in its two largest cities in the west and east – Kansas City and St. Louis, respectively. Obama did extremely well here, winning 83.55% of the vote in St. Louis City and 78.4% in Kansas City. Obama was already a familiar face to St. Louis-area voters, since the St. Louis metro area spills into Illinois. McCain narrowly won the areas in Jackson County outside Kansas City with 49.9% to Obama's 48.8%, but Obama carried the county with 62.14% of the vote due to his strong performance in Kansas City. These two counties, combined with highly affluent and suburban St. Louis County (where he also won 59.50% of the vote), gave him a 300,000 margin over McCain.[34] Obama was also able to carry Boone County, home to the large college town of Columbia (Missouri's fifth-largest city and home of the state's flagship University of Missouri campus), and Jefferson County, which consists of the southern St. Louis suburbs such as Arnold and Festus. George W. Bush narrowly won Jefferson County in 2004 over John Kerry.

However, Obama was unable to substantially improve on Kerry's performance in rural Missouri, which is largely responsible for Missouri's Republican tilt. During the 2008 Missouri Democratic Primary, every rural county in Missouri (with the exception of Nodaway County, home of Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville in Northwestern Missouri), strongly backed Hillary Clinton, often by more than two-to-one margins. Many, if not all, of these counties that Clinton won in the Missouri Primary ended up voting for McCain in the general election. A number of these counties are ancestrally Democratic. However, these counties are very similar in character to Yellow Dog Democrat areas in neighboring Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The Democrats in these areas are nowhere near as liberal as their counterparts in St. Louis and Kansas City, and much like their counterparts in neighboring Tennessee and Arkansas, had become increasingly willing to support Republicans at the national level.

Obama lost by an almost two-to-one margin in Southwest Missouri, a Republican stronghold for the better part of a century. This region is entrenched in the Bible Belt and embedded with deep pockets of social conservatives that includes Springfield and Joplin. Even Bill Clinton could not win Southwest Missouri in 1992 despite the fact that he won the state by double digits. Rural Northern Missouri voted against Obama by a three-to-two margin; this region warmly supported Bill Clinton in both of his bids. Obama also lost much of rural Southeast Missouri. Unlike Northern and Southwest Missouri, Southeast Missouri, which strongly backed Bill Clinton both times, is more Democratic at the local and state levels. The region takes in the Lead Belt, the Bootheel and the Ozark Plateau and includes the largest city of Cape Girardeau, a booming college town but also a conservative, upper-middle class community that votes overwhelmingly Republican. Southeast Missouri is socially conservative but economically liberal, consistently electing Democrats at the local and state levels. While Obama ran even in the area southwest of St. Louis, he did worse than John Kerry in the Bootheel.[34] Obama was, however, able to pick up two counties in Southeast Missouri: Washington County (by a margin of five votes) and Iron County. Both counties are predominantly rural and White but are some of the most impoverished counties in the state that are controlled by Democrats at the local and state levels. Both counties gave Hillary Clinton over 70% of the vote in the Missouri Primary as well.

Obama was allowed to request a recount under state law since preliminary results showed a difference of less than 1% of the votes. The request would have had to be granted by the state.[35] However, since Obama already won the election, there had been no indications to suggest that he would request a recount. He ultimately did not request one. As of 2020, this is the closest a Northern Democrat has come to winning Missouri, since John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts did so in 1960, as the previous three Democratic presidential candidates to win the state were all from the South (Lyndon B. Johnson was from Texas, Jimmy Carter from Georgia, and Bill Clinton from Arkansas).

This was the first presidential election that a Democrat won without winning the state of Missouri, a feat Obama would repeat in 2012, and later his former running mate, and Democratic nominee Joe Biden in 2020.

During the same election, Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon defeated U.S. Representative Kenny Hulshof in a landslide for the Governor's Mansion. Incumbent Republican Governor Matt Blunt did not seek a second term. Nixon performed extremely well in rural Missouri and clinched 58.40% of the total statewide vote compared to Hulshof's 39.49% to become Governor of Missouri. Republicans were, however, able to hold on to the U.S. House seat in Missouri's 9th Congressional District that was vacated by Hulshof in his unsuccessful gubernatorial bid. Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer narrowly defeated Democrat Judy Baker by less than 3 percentage points, in large part due to McCain winning it by 11 points. At the state level, Democrats picked up three seats in the Missouri House of Representatives but Republicans expanded their majority in the Missouri Senate, picking up three seats here. Furthermore, upon the 2008 election, Democrats control all statewide offices but one – Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder is a Republican. Democrats held on to the office of Attorney General that was vacated by Governor Jay Nixon; Democrat Chris Koster defeated Republican Mike Gibbons 52.83% to 47.17%. Democrats also picked up the office of State Treasurer that was vacated by Republican Sarah Steelman in her unsuccessful bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Democrat Clint Zweifel defeated Republican Brad Lager 50.47% to 47.14%.

Results

United States presidential election in Missouri, 2008[36]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 1,445,814 49.36% 11
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 1,441,911 49.23% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 17,813 0.61% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 11,386 0.39% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 8,201 0.28% 0
Write-ins Write-ins 3,906 0.13% 0
Green (write-in) Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 80 0.00% 0
Totals 2,929,111 100.00% 11
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 66.1%

Results breakdown

By county

County Obama% Obama# McCain% McCain# Others% Others# Total
Adair48.31%5,73549.63%5,8912.06%24511,871
Andrew38.05%3,34560.06%5,2791.89%1668,790
Atchison33.60%1,00065.05%1,9361.34%402,976
Audrain41.13%4,43457.20%6,1671.67%18010,781
Barry31.62%4,63066.63%9,7581.75%25614,644
Barton24.46%1,45574.21%4,4141.33%795,948
Bates39.49%3,27158.35%4,8332.16%1798,283
Benton37.93%3,62960.20%5,7591.87%1799,567
Bollinger29.22%1,69068.67%3,9722.11%1225,784
Boone55.20%47,06243.22%36,8491.57%1,34085,251
Buchanan49.09%19,16448.95%19,1101.96%76639,040
Butler30.66%5,31668.08%11,8051.26%21817,339
Caldwell39.75%1,81458.15%2,6542.10%964,564
Callaway40.07%7,85058.13%11,3891.80%35219,591
Camden35.12%7,77363.59%14,0741.29%28622,133
Cape Girardeau32.68%12,20866.30%24,7681.01%37937,355
Carroll33.83%1,53565.12%2,9551.06%484,538
Carter33.95%98463.49%1,8402.55%742,898
Cass39.55%19,84459.18%29,6951.28%64050,179
Cedar32.42%2,06066.01%4,1941.57%1006,354
Chariton42.69%1,79955.51%2,3391.80%764,214
Christian31.52%11,88367.33%25,3821.15%43237,697
Clark45.49%1,57251.56%1,7822.95%1023,456
Clay49.05%53,76149.74%54,5161.21%1,329109,606
Clinton43.48%4,54554.61%5,7091.91%20010,454
Cole36.03%13,95962.94%24,3851.03%40138,745
Cooper37.33%2,99661.08%4,9021.59%1288,026
Crawford38.78%3,91159.56%6,0071.66%16710,085
Dade28.79%1,18469.65%2,8641.56%644,112
Dallas34.57%2,65663.71%4,8951.72%1327,683
Daviess36.98%1,40059.77%2,2633.25%1233,786
DeKalb36.13%1,69261.69%2,8892.18%1024,683
Dent29.94%2,05667.78%4,6552.29%1576,868
Douglas31.88%2,14065.63%4,4052.49%1676,712
Dunklin38.59%4,54059.88%7,0441.53%18011,764
Franklin43.12%21,25655.49%27,3551.38%68249,293
Gasconade37.31%2,89961.29%4,7631.40%1097,771
Gentry37.52%1,23559.66%1,9642.83%933,292
Greene41.40%56,18157.25%77,6831.35%1,831135,695
Grundy33.33%1,58063.42%3,0063.25%1544,740
Harrison32.87%1,28764.16%2,5122.96%1163,915
Henry43.63%4,86954.62%6,0951.75%19511,159
Hickory42.44%2,17155.72%2,8501.84%945,115
Holt30.46%80268.14%1,7941.41%372,633
Howard41.94%2,03655.78%2,7082.29%1114,855
Howell33.68%5,73664.49%10,9821.83%31117,029
Iron50.14%2,21347.35%2,0902.51%1114,414
Jackson62.37%210,82436.89%124,6870.74%2,492338,003
Jasper32.75%15,73065.94%31,6671.31%62848,025
Jefferson50.58%53,46748.06%50,8041.36%1,433105,704
Johnson42.93%9,48055.18%12,1831.89%41722,080
Knox37.50%75959.88%1,2122.62%532,024
Laclede31.97%5,21866.62%10,8751.41%23016,323
Lafayette41.58%6,90256.88%9,4421.54%25616,600
Lawrence30.64%5,09767.70%11,2631.66%27716,637
Lewis40.80%1,83757.62%2,5941.58%714,502
Lincoln43.46%10,23454.88%12,9241.66%39223,550
Linn44.48%2,63852.94%3,1402.58%1535,931
Livingston37.16%2,43560.94%3,9931.89%1246,552
Macon37.25%2,78461.36%4,5861.39%1047,474
Madison40.61%2,04257.62%2,8971.77%895,028
Maries35.16%1,59962.73%2,8532.11%964,548
Marion37.47%4,70361.38%7,7051.16%14512,553
McDonald30.17%2,45467.60%5,4992.24%1828,135
Mercer29.69%51966.88%1,1693.43%601,748
Miller30.80%3,55367.59%7,7971.60%18511,535
Mississippi41.95%2,24756.65%3,0341.40%755,356
Moniteau31.17%2,08466.82%4,4672.00%1346,685
Monroe39.48%1,70358.72%2,5331.81%784,314
Montgomery40.08%2,34758.54%3,4281.38%815,856
Morgan38.97%3,56559.58%5,4511.45%1339,149
New Madrid41.65%3,37056.76%4,5931.59%1298,092
Newton29.32%7,45069.42%17,6371.26%31925,406
Nodaway43.97%4,49354.49%5,5681.55%15810,219
Oregon39.45%1,81157.77%2,6522.79%1284,591
Osage26.94%1,90771.51%5,0621.55%1107,079
Ozark35.45%1,66162.27%2,9182.28%1074,686
Pemiscot42.98%3,02956.11%3,9540.91%647,047
Perry34.75%3,00563.92%5,5271.33%1158,647
Pettis38.07%6,93260.51%11,0181.42%25818,208
Phelps38.04%7,39460.22%11,7061.74%33819,438
Pike44.25%3,48754.16%4,2681.60%1267,881
Platte46.17%21,45952.62%24,4601.21%56146,480
Polk33.24%4,55365.39%8,9561.37%18813,697
Pulaski34.99%5,24963.68%9,5521.33%19915,000
Putnam29.71%69568.02%1,5912.27%532,339
Ralls40.15%2,04158.75%2,9871.10%565,084
Randolph37.50%3,98460.78%6,4571.72%18310,624
Ray47.42%5,24150.60%5,5931.98%21911,053
Reynolds43.15%1,41754.20%1,7802.65%873,284
Ripley33.47%1,79563.53%3,4073.00%1615,363
Saline47.85%4,71250.39%4,9621.77%1749,848
Schuyler39.08%77557.44%1,1393.48%691,983
Scotland37.80%79359.53%1,2492.67%562,098
Scott34.72%6,25864.15%11,5631.14%20518,026
Shannon42.65%1,63754.06%2,0753.28%1263,838
Shelby33.59%1,11465.32%2,1661.09%363,316
St. Charles44.65%84,18354.39%102,5500.95%1,796188,529
St. Clair37.81%1,88659.76%2,9812.43%1214,988
St. Francois47.01%11,54051.57%12,6601.43%35024,550
St. Louis59.50%333,12339.60%221,7050.90%5,026559,854
Ste. Genevieve56.42%4,97942.29%3,7321.29%1148,825
Stoddard29.40%3,89969.16%9,1721.44%19113,262
Stone30.69%5,02968.02%11,1471.29%21116,387
Sullivan40.89%1,17356.01%1,6073.10%892,869
Taney30.85%6,68368.02%14,7361.13%24521,664
Texas31.43%3,41066.49%7,2152.08%22610,851
Vernon38.08%3,38160.08%5,3341.84%1638,878
Warren43.05%6,70555.69%8,6751.26%19615,576
Washington49.00%4,71148.95%4,7062.05%1979,614
Wayne36.52%2,24361.61%3,7841.87%1156,142
Webster34.76%5,68563.77%10,4311.47%24016,356
Worth36.37%42760.22%7073.41%401,174
Wright30.03%2,55767.94%5,7842.03%1738,514
St. Louis83.68%132,92515.52%24,6620.80%1,271158,858

By congressional district

John McCain carried six of the state's nine congressional districts, including one district held by a Democrat.

District McCain Obama Representative
1st 19.38% 79.70% William Lacy Clay, Jr.
2nd 54.98% 44.04% Todd Akin
3rd 39.06% 59.50% Russ Carnahan
4th 60.58% 37.87% Ike Skelton
5th 35.45% 63.47% Emanuel Cleaver
6th 53.58% 44.67% Sam Graves
7th 63.07% 35.39% Roy Blunt
8th 61.92% 36.42% Jo Ann Emerson
9th 54.77% 43.66% Kenny Hulshof (110th Congress)
Blaine Luetkemeyer (111th Congress)

Electors

Technically the voters of Missouri cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Missouri is allocated 11 electors because it has 9 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 11 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 11 electoral 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.[37] 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 11 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:[38]

  1. Willis Corbett
  2. Scott Dickenson
  3. Robert Haul
  4. Ronny Margason
  5. Cathy Owens
  6. Ron Muck
  7. Gene Hall
  8. R. Mellene Schudy
  9. Nadine Thurman
  10. Paul Nahon
  11. Jerry Dowell

References

  1. "Missouri: McCain vs. Obama". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  2. Powell, Michael; Michael Cooper (October 18, 2008). "Day's Campaigning Shows an Inverted Political Plane". New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  3. U.S. President And Vice President Archived November 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine from the website of the Missouri Secretary of State
  4. "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". Archived from the original on January 1, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
  5. Presidential | The Cook Political Report Archived May 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Vote 2008 – The Takeaway – Track the Electoral College vote predictions Archived April 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily
  8. Based on Takeaway
  9. POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map – POLITICO.com
  10. RealClearPolitics – Electoral Map
  11. CQ Politics | CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008 Archived October 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  12. "Electoral College Map". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  13. "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  14. "Winning the Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
  15. roadto270
  16. Election 2008: Electoral College Update – Rasmussen Reports™
  17. Election 2008 Polls – Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
  18. "Presidential Campaign Finance". Archived from the original on March 24, 2009. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
  19. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  20. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  21. McCain visits Springfield today | News-Leader.com | Springfield News-Leader
  22. "John McCain 2008 – John McCain for President". Archived from the original on July 15, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  23. "kwmu NewsRoom". Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved July 29, 2008.
  24. Political Fix » Blog Archive » Obama planning to campaign two days in Missouri
  25. http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/686290.html
  26. St. Louis Ticket Broker | St Louis Cardinals & St Louis Blues Tickets | Mizzou Football Tickets from The Ticket Guys
  27. http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/politics&id=6249360%5B%5D
  28. The Maneater – Obama revs up MU
  29. "Obama visits MU – Columbia Missourian". Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  30. http://ozarksfirst.com/content/fulltext/?cid=77101%5B%5D
  31. Carnahan Announces Record Number of Missourians Cast Ballots in General Election from the website of the Missouri Secretary of State
  32. "McCain wins Missouri; State's streak over!". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  33. "Election Results 2008". New York Times. Archived from the original on November 3, 2004. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  34. Recount Law In Missouri, a February 2008 blog entry from The Atlantic by associate editor Marc Ambinder
  35. "Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections 2008- Missouri". Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  36. "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
  37. Presidential electors 2008, MO Republican Party
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