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2008 United States presidential election in Oregon

Main article: 2008 United States presidential election

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

2008 United States presidential election in Oregon
← 2004 November 4, 2008 2012 →
 
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Arizona
Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin
Electoral vote 7 0
Popular vote 1,037,291 738,475
Percentage 56.75% 40.40%
County Results
President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Oregon was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama with a 16.4% margin of victory, making him the first successful Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 to win over 50% of the state's votes. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. Situated on the West Coast, which has become a reliably Democratic stronghold, Oregon is a relatively blue state. The last Republican presidential nominee to carry Oregon was Ronald Reagan in his 1984 landslide reelection. Although George W. Bush came close in both 2000 and 2004 (with Al Gore winning by 0.54 percentage points in 2000 and John Kerry by 4.16 percentage points in 2004), Republicans have not seriously contested the state since. This is also the first time that a presidential candidate won more than a million votes in Oregon.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the most recent election in which Jackson County and Wasco County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate, and the last time any Southern Oregon county sided with a Democrat. Marion County, which sided with Obama, would not vote Democratic again until 2020.[1]

Primaries

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Campaign

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Predictions

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

Source Ranking
D.C. Political Report[2] Likely D
Cook Political Report[3] Solid D
The Takeaway[4] Solid D
Electoral-vote.com[5] Solid D
Washington Post[6] Solid D
Politico[7] Solid D
RealClearPolitics[8] Solid D
FiveThirtyEight[6] Solid D
CQ Politics[9] Solid D
The New York Times[10] Solid D
CNN[11] Safe D
NPR[6] Solid D
MSNBC[6] Solid D
Fox News[12] Likely D
Associated Press[13] Likely D
Rasmussen Reports[14] Safe D

Polling

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Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election: Oregon

Obama won every single pre-election poll. Since September 22, Obama won each by a double-digit margin of victory and at least 52% of the vote. The final 3 polls showed Obama leading 55% to 41%.[15]

Fundraising

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McCain raised a total of $1,258,426 in the state. Obama raised $6,660,622.[16]

Advertising and visits

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Obama and his interest groups spent $1,194,908. McCain and his interest groups spent just $159,222.[17] Neither campaign visited the state.[18]

Analysis

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Voters in Oregon have a strong penchant for advancing the protection of civil liberties and individual freedoms, liberal values that have given Democrats a big edge in the state in recent years. The state once leaned Republican, like most of the Pacific Northwest. It only went Democratic once from 1948 to 1984—during Lyndon Johnson's 44-state landslide of 1964. However, the state has gone Democratic in every election since 1988, and along with California and Washington it is reckoned as forming a solid bloc of blue states along the Pacific Coast.

On Election Day, Obama carried the state by 16.35 points. As Oregon was expected to be easily won by Obama, it was called for him as soon as the polls in the state closed. Besides Jackson County in the southwest and Wasco County in the central third, most rural counties in Oregon favored McCain in the 2008 election. Nevertheless, Obama performed much better in these regions than John Kerry had in 2004. Ultimately, Obama's strong support in the more urban Willamette Valley, home to two-thirds of the state's population, would have allowed him to win the state decisively in any event, coupled with the counties making up the northern half of the Oregon Coast. The state remains geographically and politically divided by the Cascade Mountains, with eastern Oregon and the southwest being more rural, less populated and therefore strongly Republican, while the Willamette Valley is more urbanized and therefore strongly Democratic. These two areas compose the core of each party's votes: rural Oregon is strongly Republican and culturally similar to Idaho, while the Willamette Valley—especially the cities of Portland and Eugene—heavily favors the Democrats.

While Republicans typically win more counties due to running up large margins in the east and southwest, Democrats typically win the state because the Willamette Valley has more people. In 2008, Obama's overwhelming margins in Portland and Eugene, combined with strong support from Portland's suburbs (which function as swing counties), enabled him to win a landslide in a structurally liberal state. Although Obama broke no decades-long Republican county streaks, he came within 0.49 percent of winning Polk County and 1.36 percent of winning Yamhill County, neither of which have voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964. While not having carried Deschutes County, Obama was only 0.31 percent away from winning it. Prior to Joe Biden in 2020, this was the closest a Democratic candidate came to winning Deschutes County after the 1992 presidential election.[1]

During the same election, Democratic Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives Jeff Merkley defeated incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Gordon Smith by a narrow 3.35% margin. Merkley received 48.90 percent of the vote while Smith took in 45.55 percent, with the remaining 5.24 percent going to Dave Brownlow of the Constitution Party. At the state level, Democrats picked up five seats in the Oregon House of Representatives while Republicans picked up one seat in the Oregon Senate.

Results

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2008 United States presidential election in Oregon
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 1,037,291 56.75% 7
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 738,475 40.40% 0
Peace Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 18,614 1.02% 0
Write-ins Write-ins 13,613 0.74% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 7,693 0.42% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 7,635 0.42% 0
Pacific Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 4,543 0.25% 0
Totals 1,827,864 100.00% 7
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 62.9%

Results by county

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County Barack Obama
Democratic 		John McCain
Republican 		Ralph Nader
Peace 		Charles Baldwin
Constitution 		Bob Barr
Libertarian 		Cynthia McKinney
Pacific Green 		Various candidates
Write-ins 		Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # % # % # % # %
Baker 2,805 31.96% 5,650 64.37% 106 1.21% 55 0.63% 51 0.58% 23 0.26% 87 0.99% -2,845 -32.41% 8,777
Benton 29,901 64.33% 15,264 32.84% 427 0.92% 169 0.36% 214 0.46% 169 0.36% 334 0.72% 14,637 31.49% 46,478
Clackamas 103,476 53.93% 83,595 43.57% 1,750 0.91% 692 0.36% 717 0.37% 284 0.15% 1,364 0.71% 19,881 10.36% 191,878
Clatsop 10,701 57.69% 7,192 38.78% 249 1.34% 70 0.38% 101 0.54% 68 0.37% 167 0.90% 3,509 18.91% 18,548
Columbia 13,390 54.06% 10,413 42.04% 307 1.24% 202 0.82% 123 0.50% 74 0.30% 259 1.05% 2,977 12.02% 24,768
Coos 14,401 46.53% 15,354 49.61% 422 1.36% 204 0.66% 163 0.53% 103 0.33% 304 0.98% -953 -3.08% 30,951
Crook 3,632 35.09% 6,371 61.54% 157 1.52% 37 0.36% 55 0.53% 24 0.23% 76 0.73% -2,739 -26.45% 10,352
Curry 5,230 42.41% 6,646 53.89% 174 1.41% 83 0.67% 57 0.46% 26 0.21% 116 0.94% -1,416 -11.48% 12,332
Deschutes 38,819 48.66% 39,064 48.96% 702 0.88% 259 0.32% 305 0.38% 129 0.16% 504 0.63% -245 -0.30% 79,782
Douglas 20,298 38.34% 30,919 58.41% 561 1.06% 320 0.60% 217 0.41% 128 0.24% 494 0.93% -10,621 -20.07% 52,937
Gilliam 430 38.74% 648 58.38% 16 1.44% 6 0.54% 2 0.18% 2 0.18% 6 0.54% -218 -19.64% 1,110
Grant 1,006 25.74% 2,785 71.25% 30 0.77% 39 1.00% 15 0.38% 2 0.05% 32 0.82% -1,779 -45.51% 3,909
Harney 950 25.79% 2,595 70.46% 51 1.38% 21 0.57% 29 0.79% 10 0.27% 27 0.73% -1,645 -44.67% 3,683
Hood River 6,302 64.11% 3,265 33.21% 112 1.14% 44 0.45% 31 0.32% 21 0.21% 55 0.56% 3,037 30.90% 9,830
Jackson 49,090 48.58% 49,043 48.53% 844 0.84% 601 0.59% 425 0.42% 224 0.22% 820 0.81% 47 0.05% 101,047
Jefferson 3,682 44.27% 4,402 52.92% 100 1.20% 37 0.44% 22 0.26% 21 0.25% 54 0.65% -720 -8.65% 8,318
Josephine 17,412 41.41% 22,973 54.63% 492 1.17% 379 0.90% 234 0.56% 135 0.32% 424 1.01% -5,561 -13.22% 42,049
Klamath 9,370 31.87% 19,113 65.01% 300 1.02% 178 0.61% 174 0.59% 68 0.23% 196 0.67% -9,743 -33.14% 29,399
Lake 957 25.95% 2,638 71.53% 38 1.03% 19 0.52% 11 0.30% 11 0.30% 14 0.38% -1,681 -45.58% 3,688
Lane 114,037 62.35% 63,835 34.90% 1,836 1.00% 590 0.32% 754 0.41% 534 0.29% 1,324 0.72% 50,202 27.45% 182,910
Lincoln 14,258 59.68% 8,791 36.80% 334 1.40% 83 0.35% 127 0.53% 73 0.31% 223 0.93% 5,467 22.88% 23,889
Linn 22,163 42.64% 28,071 54.00% 625 1.20% 287 0.55% 237 0.46% 134 0.26% 465 0.89% -5,908 -11.36% 51,982
Malheur 2,949 28.27% 7,157 68.60% 85 0.81% 81 0.78% 57 0.55% 28 0.27% 76 0.73% -4,208 -40.33% 10,433
Marion 61,816 49.63% 59,059 47.41% 1,257 1.01% 551 0.44% 528 0.42% 328 0.26% 1,024 0.82% 2,757 2.22% 124,563
Morrow 1,410 34.75% 2,509 61.83% 43 1.06% 33 0.81% 23 0.57% 9 0.22% 31 0.76% -1,099 -27.08% 4,058
Multnomah 279,696 76.69% 75,171 20.61% 4,166 1.14% 904 0.25% 1,195 0.33% 1,207 0.33% 2,371 0.65% 204,525 56.08% 364,710
Polk 17,536 48.43% 17,714 48.92% 320 0.88% 184 0.51% 116 0.32% 79 0.22% 258 0.71% -178 -0.49% 36,207
Sherman 385 36.77% 634 60.55% 8 0.76% 6 0.57% 5 0.48% 1 0.10% 8 0.76% -249 -23.78% 1,047
Tillamook 7,072 53.18% 5,757 43.30% 197 1.48% 59 0.44% 58 0.44% 42 0.32% 112 0.84% 1,315 9.88% 13,297
Umatilla 9,484 37.16% 15,254 59.77% 245 0.96% 166 0.65% 113 0.44% 56 0.22% 205 0.80% -5,770 -22.61% 25,523
Union 4,613 36.63% 7,581 60.20% 119 0.94% 85 0.67% 63 0.50% 23 0.18% 110 0.87% -2,968 -23.57% 12,863
Wallowa 1,492 33.42% 2,836 63.52% 35 0.78% 30 0.67% 24 0.54% 6 0.13% 42 0.94% -1,344 -30.10% 4,465
Wasco 5,906 51.90% 5,103 44.84% 140 1.23% 61 0.54% 46 0.40% 31 0.27% 93 0.82% 803 7.06% 11,380
Washington 141,544 59.82% 89,185 37.69% 1,892 0.80% 895 0.38% 1,148 0.49% 379 0.16% 1,589 0.67% 52,359 22.13% 236,632
Wheeler 281 34.61% 498 61.33% 11 1.35% 5 0.62% 9 1.11% 1 0.12% 7 0.86% -217 -26.72% 812
Yamhill 20,797 47.78% 21,390 49.14% 463 1.06% 258 0.59% 186 0.43% 90 0.21% 342 0.79% -593 -1.36% 43,526
Totals 1,037,291 56.75% 738,475 40.40% 18,614 1.02% 7,693 0.42% 7,635 0.42% 4,543 0.25% 13,613 0.74% 298,816 16.35% 1,827,864
 
County Flips:

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

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Results by congressional district

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Barack Obama carried four of the state's five congressional districts in Oregon, all held by Democrats.

District Obama McCain Representative
1st 61.03% 36.27% David Wu
2nd 43.21% 53.86% Greg Walden
3rd 71.39% 25.78% Earl Blumenauer
4th 53.79% 43.08% Peter DeFazio
5th 53.95% 43.33% Darlene Hooley (110th Congress)
Kurt Schrader (111th Congress)

Electors

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Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Oregon cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Oregon 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.[19] 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:[20]

  1. Michael Bohan
  2. Shirley Cairns
  3. Joe Smith
  4. John McColgan
  5. Meredith Wood Smith
  6. Frank James Dixon
  7. Bernard Gorter

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  2. ^ "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". January 1, 2009. Archived from the original on January 1, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  3. ^ "Presidential". May 5, 2015. Archived from the original on May 5, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  4. ^ "Vote 2008 - The Takeaway - Track the Electoral College vote predictions". April 22, 2009. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  5. ^ "Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily". electoral-vote.com. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d Based on Takeaway
  7. ^ "POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com". www.politico.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  8. ^ "RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map". Archived from the original on June 5, 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 (November 4, 2008). "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. Archived from the original on June 19, 2010. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  12. ^ "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
  13. ^ "roadto270". hosted.ap.org. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  14. ^ "Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports". www.rasmussenreports.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  15. ^ "Election 2008 Polls". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
  16. ^ "Presidential Campaign Finance". Archived from the original on March 24, 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  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. ^ "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
  20. ^ "U. S. Electoral College 2008 Election - Certificates". May 20, 2019.
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