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Main article: 2008 United States presidential election
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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.

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 most news organizations not calling the state until two weeks after the election.[1] 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 McCain. Since the margin of victory was less than 1%, Obama could have legally called for a recount at no expense to himself, but he ultimately chose not to do so. This was likely because he had already received enough electoral votes to win the presidency which rendered Missouri's 11 electoral votes inconsequential and a recount would have been unlikely to change the outcome.[2]

Obama became the first Democrat to ever win the presidency without carrying Missouri, and McCain the first Republican to carry Missouri without winning the presidency.

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. The state continued moving deeper and safer into the Republican side four years later and onward, and as such, this is the most recent election when the Republican candidate won less than 50% of the state's popular vote. As of 2020, this is the last time that Iron County, Jefferson County, Washington County, Ste. Genevieve County, and Buchanan County voted for the Democratic candidate. Despite losing, Obama's 1,441,911 votes are the most received by a Democratic presidential candidate in the state's history. This remains the last election where Missouri voted to the left of Georgia and Arizona.

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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[5]

Predictions

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[6] Likely R
Cook Political Report[7] Toss-up
The Takeaway[8] Toss-up
Electoral-vote.com[9] Lean R
Washington Post[10] Lean R
Politico[11] Lean R
RealClearPolitics[12] Toss-up
FiveThirtyEight[10] Lean R
CQ Politics[13] Toss-up
The New York Times[14] Toss-up
CNN[15] Toss-up
NPR[10] Lean R
MSNBC[10] Toss-up
Fox News[16] Toss-up
Associated Press[17] Toss-up
Rasmussen Reports[18] Toss-up

Polling

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

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.[19]

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.[20]

Advertising and visits

Obama and his interest groups spent $11,323,706. McCain and his interest groups spent $9,428,559.[21]

The Democratic ticket visited the state 13 times throughout the general election. The Republican ticket visited here 14 times.[22]

McCain's Visits:

Obama's Visits:

Analysis

For the better part of a century, Missouri was considered to be the nation's prime bellwether state. From 1904 to 2004, Missouri voted for the winner in every presidential election except 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 trended 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 Missouri a lost cause and did not campaign much there. Despite being from neighboring Illinois, Obama too initially put the state as a secondary concern in relation to other swing states such as Ohio and Virginia where he thought he had a better 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 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 elections.[33] On Election Day, McCain clung to a tiny lead, with absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted. By November 19, McCain led Obama by 1,445,813–1,441,910 votes,[5] or approximately 0.14% of the total popular vote in Missouri. CNN called the state for McCain that day.[34] The 2008 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 cities had contributed to close margins for elections in Missouri, and 2008 was no different, as these cities frequently create large margins for Democrats.

One of the most important counties in the state for either candidate in Missouri elections is St. Louis County. The county has a population of more than 1 million, and had delivered victories for Democrats since 1992, but by relatively small margins of 6 points in 2000 and 9 points in 2004. Obama outperformed both Gore and Kerry, delivering a 20-point margin for Obama. St. Louis County (where he also won 59.50% of the vote), combined with his landslide wins in Kansas City and St. Louis gave him a 300,000 margin over McCain.[35]

St. Louis County had been growing increasingly more of a Democratic stronghold, the last time a Republican was able to win the county was in 1988. As reflected nationally, suburban counties practiced a moderate form of conservatism, and had rejected the growing social conservatism of the Republican party. The county, the most affluent in the state, is largely suburban with a racially diverse population. His victory was the strongest performance for a Democrat in the county since 1964. 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.[35] 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.[36] However, since Obama already won the election and Missouri would not have affected the outcome, 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 of Massachusetts did so in 1960, as the previous three Democratic presidential candidates to win the state were all from the South (Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, Jimmy Carter of Georgia, and Bill Clinton of Arkansas). This was the first presidential election that a Democrat won without winning the state of Missouri, a feat Obama would repeat in 2012, as well as his former running mate 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 controlled all statewide offices but one; Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder was the sole Republican. Democrats held on to the office of Attorney General that was vacated by Governor-elect 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

2008 United States presidential election in Missouri[37]
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%

By county

County John McCain
Republican 		Barack Obama
Democratic 		Various candidates
Other parties 		Margin Total
# % # % # % # %
Adair 5,891 49.63% 5,735 48.31% 245 2.06% 156 1.32% 11,871
Andrew 5,279 60.06% 3,345 38.05% 166 1.89% 1,934 22.01% 8,790
Atchison 1,936 65.05% 1,000 33.60% 40 1.35% 936 31.45% 2,976
Audrain 6,167 57.20% 4,434 41.13% 180 1.67% 1,733 16.07% 10,781
Barry 9,758 66.63% 4,630 31.62% 256 1.75% 5,128 35.01% 14,644
Barton 4,414 74.21% 1,455 24.46% 79 1.33% 2,959 49.75% 5,948
Bates 4,833 58.35% 3,271 39.49% 179 2.16% 1,562 18.86% 8,283
Benton 5,759 59.92% 3,629 37.76% 223 2.32% 2,130 22.16% 9,611
Bollinger 3,972 68.67% 1,690 29.22% 122 2.11% 2,282 39.45% 5,784
Boone 36,849 43.22% 47,062 55.20% 1,340 1.58% -10,213 -11.98% 85,251
Buchanan 19,110 48.68% 19,164 48.81% 986 2.51% -54 -0.13% 39,260
Butler 11,805 68.09% 5,316 30.66% 217 1.25% 6,489 37.43% 17,338
Caldwell 2,654 58.15% 1,814 39.75% 96 2.10% 840 18.40% 4,564
Callaway 11,389 58.81% 7,580 39.14% 397 2.05% 3,809 19.67% 19,366
Camden 14,074 63.40% 7,773 35.02% 350 1.58% 6,301 28.38% 22,197
Cape Girardeau 24,768 66.14% 12,208 32.60% 470 1.26% 12,560 33.54% 37,446
Carroll 2,955 65.12% 1,535 33.83% 48 1.05% 1,420 31.29% 4,538
Carter 1,840 63.49% 984 33.95% 74 2.56% 856 29.54% 2,898
Cass 29,695 58.99% 19,844 39.42% 802 1.59% 9,851 19.57% 50,341
Cedar 4,194 66.01% 2,060 32.42% 100 1.57% 2,134 33.59% 6,354
Chariton 2,339 55.51% 1,799 42.69% 76 1.80% 540 12.82% 4,214
Christian 25,382 67.08% 11,883 31.41% 572 1.51% 13,499 35.67% 37,837
Clark 1,782 51.56% 1,572 45.49% 192 2.95% 210 6.07% 3,456
Clay 54,516 49.55% 53,761 48.86% 1,748 1.59% 755 0.69% 110,025
Clinton 5,709 54.61% 4,545 43.48% 200 1.91% 1,164 11.13% 10,454
Cole 24,385 62.79% 13,959 35.95% 490 1.26% 10,426 26.84% 38,834
Cooper 4,902 61.08% 2,996 37.33% 128 1.59% 1,906 23.75% 8,026
Crawford 6,007 59.56% 3,911 38.78% 167 1.66% 2,096 20.78% 10,085
Dade 2,864 69.65% 1,184 28.79% 64 1.56% 1,680 40.86% 4,112
Dallas 4,895 63.71% 2,656 34.57% 132 1.72% 2,239 29.14% 7,683
Daviess 2,263 59.77% 1,400 36.98% 123 3.25% 863 22.79% 3,786
DeKalb 2,889 61.29% 1,692 35.89% 133 2.82% 1,197 25.40% 4,714
Dent 4,655 67.78% 2,056 29.94% 157 2.28% 2,599 37.84% 6,868
Douglas 4,405 65.63% 2,140 31.88% 167 2.49% 2,265 33.75% 6,712
Dunklin 7,044 59.88% 4,540 38.59% 180 1.53% 2,504 21.29% 11,764
Franklin 27,355 55.31% 21,256 42.98% 847 1.71% 6,099 12.33% 49,458
Gasconade 4,763 61.29% 2,899 37.31% 109 1.40% 1,864 23.98% 7,771
Gentry 1,964 59.66% 1,235 37.52% 93 2.82% 729 22.14% 3,292
Greene 77,683 57.06% 56,181 41.26% 2,283 1.68% 21,502 15.80% 136,147
Grundy 3,006 63.42% 1,580 33.33% 154 3.25% 1,426 30.09% 4,740
Harrison 2,512 64.16% 1,287 32.87% 116 2.97% 1,225 31.29% 3,915
Henry 6,095 54.62% 4,869 43.63% 195 1.75% 1,226 10.99% 11,159
Hickory 2,850 55.72% 2,171 42.44% 94 1.84% 679 13.28% 5,115
Holt 1,794 68.14% 802 30.46% 37 1.40% 992 37.68% 2,633
Howard 2,708 55.78% 2,036 41.94% 111 2.28% 672 13.84% 4,855
Howell 10,982 64.49% 5,736 33.68% 311 1.83% 5,246 30.81% 17,029
Iron 2,090 47.35% 2,213 50.14% 111 2.51% -123 -2.79% 4,414
Jackson 124,687 36.75% 210,824 62.14% 3,755 1.11% -86,137 -25.39% 339,266
Jasper 31,667 65.67% 15,730 32.62% 822 1.71% 15,937 33.05% 48,219
Jefferson 50,804 47.91% 53,467 50.42% 1,779 1.67% -2,663 -2.51% 106,050
Johnson 12,183 55.18% 9,480 42.93% 417 1.89% 2,703 12.25% 22,080
Knox 1,212 59.73% 759 37.41% 58 2.86% 453 22.32% 2,029
Laclede 10,875 66.40% 5,218 31.86% 286 1.74% 5,657 34.54% 16,379
Lafayette 9,442 56.88% 6,902 41.58% 256 1.54% 2,540 15.30% 16,600
Lawrence 11,263 67.50% 5,097 30.55% 325 1.95% 6,166 36.95% 16,685
Lewis 2,594 57.62% 1,837 40.80% 71 1.58% 757 16.82% 4,502
Lincoln 12,924 54.72% 10,234 43.33% 461 1.95% 2,690 11.39% 23,619
Linn 3,140 52.94% 2,638 44.48% 153 2.58% 502 8.46% 5,931
Livingston 3,993 60.94% 2,435 37.16% 124 1.90% 1,558 23.78% 6,552
Macon 4,586 61.36% 2,784 37.25% 104 1.39% 1,802 24.11% 7,474
Madison 2,897 57.62% 2,042 40.61% 89 1.77% 855 17.01% 5,028
Maries 2,853 62.58% 1,599 35.07% 107 2.35% 1,254 27.51% 4,559
Marion 7,705 61.38% 4,703 37.47% 145 1.15% 3,002 23.91% 12,553
McDonald 5,499 67.60% 2,454 30.17% 182 2.23% 3,045 37.43% 8,135
Mercer 1,169 66.88% 519 29.69% 60 3.43% 650 37.19% 1,748
Miller 7,797 67.43% 3,553 30.73% 213 1.84% 4,244 36.70% 11,563
Mississippi 3,034 56.65% 2,247 41.95% 75 1.40% 787 14.70% 5,356
Moniteau 4,467 67.02% 2,084 31.27% 114 1.71% 2,383 35.75% 6,665
Monroe 2,533 58.72% 1,703 39.48% 78 1.81% 830 19.24% 4,314
Montgomery 3,428 58.54% 2,347 40.08% 81 1.38% 1,081 18.46% 5,856
Morgan 5,451 59.58% 3,565 38.97% 133 1.45% 1,886 20.61% 9,149
New Madrid 4,593 56.76% 3,370 41.65% 129 1.59% 1,223 15.11% 8,092
Newton 17,637 69.42% 7,450 29.32% 319 1.26% 10,187 40.10% 25,406
Nodaway 5,568 54.49% 4,493 43.97% 158 1.54% 1,075 10.52% 10,219
Oregon 2,652 57.77% 1,811 39.45% 128 2.78% 841 18.32% 4,591
Osage 5,062 71.51% 1,907 26.94% 110 1.55% 3,155 44.57% 7,079
Ozark 2,918 62.27% 1,661 35.45% 107 2.28% 1,257 26.82% 4,686
Pemiscot 3,954 56.11% 3,029 42.98% 64 0.91% 925 13.13% 7,047
Perry 5,527 63.92% 3,005 34.75% 115 1.33% 2,522 29.17% 8,647
Pettis 11,018 60.32% 6,932 37.95% 315 1.73% 4,086 22.37% 18,265
Phelps 11,706 59.96% 7,394 37.87% 424 2.17% 4,312 22.09% 19,524
Pike 4,268 53.97% 3,487 44.09% 153 1.94% 781 9.88% 7,908
Platte 24,460 52.44% 21,459 46.01% 721 1.55% 3,001 6.43% 46,640
Polk 8,956 65.39% 4,553 33.24% 188 1.37% 4,403 32.15% 13,697
Pulaski 9,552 63.68% 5,249 34.99% 199 1.33% 4,303 28.69% 15,000
Putnam 1,591 68.02% 695 29.71% 53 2.27% 896 38.31% 2,339
Ralls 2,987 58.75% 2,041 40.15% 56 1.10% 946 18.60% 5,084
Randolph 6,457 60.59% 3,984 37.39% 215 2.02% 2,473 23.20% 10,656
Ray 5,593 50.60% 5,241 47.42% 219 1.98% 352 3.18% 11,053
Reynolds 1,782 54.21% 1,418 43.14% 87 2.65% 364 11.07% 3,287
Ripley 3,407 63.53% 1,795 33.47% 161 3.00% 1,612 30.06% 5,363
Saline 4,962 50.39% 4,712 47.85% 174 1.76% 250 2.54% 9,848
Schuyler 1,139 57.44% 775 39.08% 69 3.48% 364 18.36% 1,983
Scotland 1,249 59.53% 793 37.80% 56 2.67% 456 21.73% 2,098
Scott 11,563 63.95% 6,258 34.61% 261 1.44% 5,305 29.34% 18,082
Shannon 2,075 54.06% 1,637 42.65% 126 3.29% 438 11.41% 3,838
Shelby 2,166 65.32% 1,114 33.59% 36 1.09% 1,052 31.73% 3,316
St. Charles 102,550 54.27% 84,183 44.55% 2,224 1.18% 18,367 9.72% 188,957
St. Clair 2,981 59.76% 1,886 37.81% 121 2.43% 1,095 21.95% 4,988
St. Francois 12,660 51.57% 11,540 47.01% 350 1.42% 1,120 4.56% 24,550
St. Louis 221,705 39.60% 333,123 59.50% 5,026 0.90% -111,418 -19.90% 559,854
St. Louis City 24,662 15.50% 132,925 83.55% 1,517 0.95% -108,263 -68.05% 159,104
Ste. Genevieve 3,732 42.29% 4,979 56.42% 114 1.29% -1,247 -14.13% 8,825
Stoddard 9,172 69.16% 3,899 29.40% 191 1.44% 5,273 39.76% 13,262
Stone 11,147 67.78% 5,029 30.58% 269 1.64% 6,118 37.20% 16,445
Sullivan 1,607 56.01% 1,173 40.89% 89 3.10% 434 15.12% 2,869
Taney 14,736 67.78% 6,683 30.74% 322 1.48% 8,053 37.04% 21,741
Texas 7,215 66.49% 3,410 31.43% 226 2.08% 3,805 35.06% 10,851
Vernon 5,334 60.08% 3,381 38.08% 163 1.84% 1,953 22.00% 8,878
Warren 8,675 55.69% 6,705 43.05% 196 1.26% 1,970 12.64% 15,576
Washington 4,706 48.95% 4,711 49.00% 197 2.05% -5 -0.05% 9,614
Wayne 3,784 61.49% 2,243 36.45% 127 2.06% 1,541 25.04% 6,154
Webster 10,431 63.77% 5,685 34.76% 240 1.47% 4,746 29.01% 16,356
Worth 707 60.22% 427 36.37% 40 3.41% 280 23.85% 1,174
Wright 5,784 67.94% 2,557 30.03% 173 2.03% 3,227 37.91% 8,514
Totals 1,445,814 49.36% 1,441,911 49.23% 41,386 1.41% 3,903 0.13% 2,929,111
County Flips:

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

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

Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential 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.[38] 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:[39]

  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

See also

References

  1. ^ Andy Barr. "It's official: McCain wins Missouri". POLITICO. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  2. ^ Silver, Nate (November 16, 2008). "What's Holding Up Missouri?". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  3. ^ "Missouri: McCain vs. Obama". RealClearPolitics. Archived from the original on April 6, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  4. ^ Powell, Michael; Michael Cooper (October 18, 2008). "Day's Campaigning Shows an Inverted Political Plane". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 10, 2009. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c U.S. President And Vice President Archived November 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine from the website of the Missouri Secretary of State
  6. ^ "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.
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source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_United_States_presidential_election_in_Missouri