2008 United States presidential election in Oklahoma

The 2008 United States presidential election in Oklahoma 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.

2008 United States presidential election in Oklahoma

November 4, 2008

Nominee John McCain Barack Obama Party Republican Democratic Home state Arizona Illinois Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden Electoral vote 7 0 Popular vote 960,165 502,496 Percentage 65.65% 34.35%

County Results McCain   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90%

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Oklahoma was won by Republican nominee John McCain with a 31.3% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. A strongly conservative state located in the Bible Belt where evangelical Christianity plays a large role, Oklahoma has swung and trended more to the Republicans in recent years than any other state. Having voted for the Republican presidential nominee in every election since 1968, Oklahoma once again showcased its status as a Republican stronghold in 2008 with Republican John McCain capturing 65.65% of the vote.[1]

Primaries

• 2008 Oklahoma Republican primary
• 2008 Oklahoma Democratic primary

Campaign

Predictions

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

• D.C. Political Report: Republican[2]
• Cook Political Report: Solid Republican[3]
• Takeaway: Solid McCain[4]
• Electoral-vote.com: Strong Republican[5]
• Washington Post: Solid McCain[6]
• Politico: Solid McCain[7]
• Real Clear Politics: Solid McCain[8]
• FiveThirtyEight.com: Solid McCain[6]
• CQ Politics: Safe Republican[9]
• New York Times: Solid Republican[10]
• CNN: Safe Republican[11]
• NPR: Solid McCain[6]
• MSNBC: Solid McCain[6]
• Fox News: Republican[12]
• Associated Press: Republican[13]
• Rasmussen Reports: Safe Republican[14]

Polling

McCain won every single pre-election poll, and each with a double-digit margin of victory. The final 3 polls averaged McCain leading 62% to 34%.[15]

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $2,050,335 in the state. Barack Obama raised $1,711,069.[16]

Advertising and visits

Obama spent $613,515. McCain and his interest groups spent just $6,565.[17] Neither campaign visited the state.[18]

Analysis

Oklahoma gave John McCain his strongest showing in Election 2008 with a rounded percentage of 66% (65.65%) going to him.[19] The Sooner State was also the only state in the country where every single county voted for McCain. Although the results were similar to 2004 in which George W. Bush swept every county in the state with 65.57% of the vote, McCain's margin of victory was slightly better - 0.08% more - in 2008.[20] Oklahoma was one of five states where McCain outperformed George W. Bush, the other four being Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Oklahoma, despite the large concentration of Native Americans in the state, remains one of the most reliably Republican states in the country. Although Democrats still had a majority of registered voters at the time, the state's Democrats are very conservative by national standards. Oklahoma is part of the Bible Belt, and voters in the state have a strong penchant for being values voters; that is, they are strongly and deeply conservative on social issues such as abortion and gay rights. McCain's selection of the socially conservative Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska proved to be an excellent fit for the Sooner State. Obama was at a disadvantage beforehand in Oklahoma during the primary season when voters in the Sooner State backed Hillary Rodham Clinton with 54.76% of the vote compared to Obama's 31.19% and a significant amount (10.24%) going to John Edwards. Clinton won every county in the Oklahoma Democratic Primary except for Oklahoma County, home of Oklahoma City which Obama just narrowly carried. Most of Oklahoma's Democratic establishment were early endorsers of Hillary Clinton as well. Another setback for Obama was that U.S. Representative Dan Boren, the only Democrat from Oklahoma's five-member delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives, refused to endorse Obama.

Another key to McCain's victory was the highly populated counties of Tulsa County, which he won with over 62%, and Oklahoma County, which he won with over 58%. He also dominated the heavily Republican Oklahoma Panhandle by an almost four-to-one margin. Despite the Republican landslide, Obama did improve upon John Kerry's performance in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. However, this was more than canceled out by his extremely weak showing in Southeast Oklahoma, historically the most Democratic region in the state. This socially conservative but fiscally liberal area, known as "Little Dixie," still votes Democratic at the local level and state levels. It also warmly supported Bill Clinton of neighboring Arkansas in 1992 and 1996; Clinton's populism struck a chord among the region's voters. Democratic nominees from John Kerry on, on the other hand, have proven spectacularly bad fits for the region and the state as a whole. Obama lost many counties in Southeast Oklahoma by more than two-to-one margins.

Also, Oklahoma was the only state in the country that didn't have a third-party candidate on the ballot, mostly because the state has the toughest ballot access laws in the country.

During the same election, incumbent Republican U.S. Senator James Inhofe was solidly reelected over Democratic State Senator Andrew Rice. Inhofe received 56.68% while Rice took in 39.18% and Independent Stephen P. Wallace received the remaining 4.14%. At the state level, Republicans made gains in the Oklahoma Legislature, picking up four seats in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and two seats in the Oklahoma Senate which gave the GOP control of the state legislature for the first time since statehood.

Results

2008 United States presidential election in Oklahoma
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	John McCain	Sarah Palin	960,165	65.65%	7
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	502,496	34.35%	0
Totals				1,462,661	100.00%	7
Voter turnout (Voting age population)						54.8%

Results breakdown

By county

County	McCain#	McCain%	Obama#	Obama%
Adair	4,636	69%	2,049	31%
Alfalfa	2,023	83%	411	17%
Atoka	3,509	72%	1,370	28%
Beaver	2,197	89%	265	11%
Beckham	5,769	78%	1,625	22%
Blaine	3,100	75%	1,011	25%
Bryan	9,295	68%	4,423	32%
Caddo	6,401	65%	3,395	35%
Canadian	36,411	76%	11,422	24%
Carter	13,241	70%	5,603	30%
Cherokee	9,182	56%	7,193	44%
Choctaw	3,729	67%	1,859	33%
Cimarron	1,119	88%	152	12%
Cleveland	64,730	62%	39,673	38%
Coal	1,609	74%	570	26%
Comanche	20,127	59%	14,120	41%
Cotton	1,793	72%	690	28%
Craig	3,858	65%	2,072	35%
Creek	20,181	71%	8,318	29%
Custer	7,842	75%	2,660	25%
Delaware	10,274	67%	5,084	33%
Dewey	1,857	84%	346	16%
Ellis	1,627	85%	282	15%
Garfield	17,066	75%	5,545	25%
Garvin	7,708	72%	3,028	28%
Grady	15,187	73%	5,516	27%
Grant	1,836	78%	514	22%
Greer	1,548	73%	566	27%
Harmon	757	69%	333	31%
Harper	1,342	86%	221	14%
Haskell	3,206	69%	1,474	31%
Hughes	3,132	65%	1,705	35%
Jackson	6,716	75%	2,263	25%
Jefferson	1,649	67%	805	33%
Johnston	2,707	68%	1,246	32%
Kay	13,229	71%	5,462	29%
Kingfisher	5,372	84%	1,009	16%
Kiowa	2,536	67%	1,226	33%
Latimer	2,860	69%	1,313	31%
LeFlore	11,603	69%	5,136	31%
Lincoln	10,468	75%	3,503	25%
Logan	12,555	69%	5,716	31%
Love	2,589	67%	1,257	33%
Major	2,955	85%	515	15%
Marshall	3,729	69%	1,642	31%
Mayes	10,231	64%	5,749	36%
McClain	11,184	76%	3,550	24%
McCurtain	7,744	74%	2,792	26%
McIntosh	4,903	60%	3,318	40%
Murray	3,746	70%	1,592	30%
Muskogee	15,276	58%	11,286	42%
Noble	3,881	77%	1,174	23%
Nowata	3,029	68%	1,411	32%
Okfuskee	2,642	64%	1,478	36%
Oklahoma	163,099	58%	116,133	42%
Okmulgee	8,724	59%	6,187	41%
Osage	12,150	62%	7,493	38%
Ottawa	6,904	62%	4,266	38%
Pawnee	4,533	69%	2,063	31%
Payne	18,435	63%	10,601	37%
Pittsburg	11,739	68%	5,454	32%
Pontotoc	9,749	68%	4,511	32%
Pottawatomie	17,728	69%	7,906	31%
Pushmataha	3,208	72%	1,265	28%
Roger Mills	1,502	84%	286	16%
Rogers	27,732	72%	10,770	28%
Seminole	5,599	65%	2,977	35%
Sequoyah	9,465	68%	4,454	32%
Stephens	14,392	76%	4,538	24%
Texas	5,332	85%	923	15%
Tillman	2,195	68%	1,042	32%
Tulsa	158,322	62%	96,106	38%
Wagoner	21,426	71%	8,805	29%
Washington	16,457	72%	6,308	28%
Washita	3,716	78%	1,050	22%
Woods	3,043	78%	870	22%
Woodward	6,402	83%	1,348	17%

By congressional district

John McCain carried every congressional district in Oklahoma, including the one district held by a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives rather strongly.

District	McCain	Obama	Representative
1st	64.21%	35.79%	John A. Sullivan
2nd	65.59%	34.41%	Dan Boren
3rd	72.82%	27.18%	Frank Lucas
4th	66.37%	33.63%	Tom Cole
5th	59.32%	40.68%	Mary Fallin

Electors

Technically the voters of Oklahoma cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Oklahoma 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 7 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.[21] 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 John McCain and Sarah Palin:[22]

1. Virginia Chrisco
2. Gail Stice
3. Pete Katzdorn
4. Robert Cleveland
5. Mary Phyllis Gorman
6. Bunny Chambers
7. Diane Murphy Gunther

The slate for the Democrats, which was not elected, consisted of Sally Freeman Frasier, Gene A. Wallace, Anita R. Norman, Tim Mauldin, Robert Lemon, David Walters, Walter W. Jenny Jr.[23]

References

1. "CNN Election Center 2008 - Oklahoma Results". Retrieved May 26, 2010.
2. "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". Archived from the original on 1 January 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
3. "Presidential". Archived from the original on May 5, 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. "Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily". Retrieved 14 January 2015.
6. Based on Takeaway
7. "POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map". Retrieved 14 January 2015.
8. "Electoral Map". RealClearPolitics. Archived from the original on 5 June 2008.
9. "CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
10. Nagourney, Adam; Zeleny, Jeff; Carter, Shan (2008-11-04). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
11. "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. October 31, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
12. "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
13. "roadto270". Retrieved 14 January 2015.
14. Rasmussen Reports. "Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™". Retrieved 14 January 2015.
15. David Leip. "Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Retrieved 14 January 2015.
16. "Page Not Found". Archived from the original on 24 March 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2015. Cite uses generic title (help)
17. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
18. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
19. "2008 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
20. "CNN Election Center 2004 - Oklahoma Results". Retrieved May 26, 2010.
21. "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
22. "U. S. Electoral College 2008 Election - Certificates". Retrieved 14 January 2015.
23. https://www.ok.gov/elections/documents/08electr.pdf