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

Minnesota was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama by a 10.2% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. Barack Obama carried the state with 54.06% of the vote in 2008 over John McCain's 43.82%. Obama became the first ever Democrat to win without carrying Lake of the Woods County, as well as the first to do so without carrying Clearwater County since Woodrow Wilson in 1912, the first to do so without carrying Anoka or Jackson Counties since Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

Obama was the first Democrat to carry Olmstead County since 1964. In 2008 78.1% of eligible Minnesotans voted – the highest percentage of any U.S. state – versus the national average of 61.2% As of 2020, this election was the last time Minnesota voted by a double-digit margin.

Caucuses

Campaign

Predictions

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

Source Ranking
D.C. Political Report[2] Likely D
Cook Political Report[3] Lean D
The Takeaway[4] Solid D
Electoral-vote.com[5] Solid D
Washington Post[6] Lean D
Politico[7] Solid D
RealClearPolitics[8] Solid D
FiveThirtyEight[6] Solid D
CQ Politics[9] Lean D
The New York Times[10] Lean D
CNN[11] Lean 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

In the aftermath of the GOP National Convention that was highlighted by a well delivered and received speech by vice presidential nominee Governor Sarah Palin, a strong Obama lead tightened into a very narrow polling lead. However, when the September financial crisis irreparably damaged McCain's chances at victory, McCain remained competitive in Minnesota for some time after Obama had pulled away in other states such as Michigan and Wisconsin. At no time, however, did polls indicate that John McCain was ahead in the state, and Obama eventually did pull away from John McCain.[15]

2008 Republican National Convention

The 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008. The first day of the Republican Party's convention fell on Labor Day, the last day of the popular Minnesota State Fair, though because of Hurricane Gustav, this day was mostly a call for action to help victims and formal, required activities; most of the politicking and partying did not start until Tuesday, the second scheduled day

Four cities made bids to the Republican National Committee (RNC) for proposals to host the 2008 Convention. Those cities were Cleveland, Ohio; Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota; New York City, New York; and Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida. The RNC Selection Committee made its recommendation for Minneapolis-Saint Paul and on September 27, 2006, the RNC made its decision public that the 2008 Republican National Convention would be held in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. The RNC made their decision earlier than originally scheduled because the Democratic National Committee (DNC) also had Minneapolis-Saint Paul as a finalist among bidding cities. (After the RNC's selection, the DNC removed Minneapolis-Saint Paul from consideration which left the DNC with only two cities to choose from: New York City and Denver, Colorado.) This is the second time the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area held the Republican National Convention—the first was held in 1892.

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $2,423,705 in the state. Barack Obama raised $6,058,168.[16]

Advertising and visits

Obama and his interest groups $3,006,784. McCain and his interest groups spent 4,467,107.[17] The Republican ticket visited the state 9 times. Obama visited the state only once.[18]

Analysis

Minnesota has the longest streak as a blue state, having last voted for a Republican presidential nominee in 1972. However, the Democrats' margins of victory in 2000 and 2004 were relatively narrow. With this in mind, Republicans targeted the state for the 2008 election, holding the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Although the state swung more Democratic in 2008 and Barack Obama performed better here than John Kerry did in 2004, the swing was smaller than the national average.

During the same election, a contentious U.S. Senate battle took place between incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. The close election resulted in two court appeals, both of which eventually declared Franken the winner. At the state level, Democrats picked up two seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives and one seat in the Minnesota Senate.

On Election Day, Obama won Minnesota by a comfortable margin, piling up 2-1 margins in Hennepin County (Minneapolis) and Ramsey County (St. Paul). Obama also ran evenly in the Minneapolis suburbs and rural Minnesota. However, McCain mostly held the same counties Bush won in the Republican base of central Minnesota.[19] While Obama still won the state with ease, GOP efforts and the Republican National Convention led to a better Republican performance than seen in neighboring states in the Upper Midwest, and prevented the collapse of Republican support that occurred in neighboring Michigan and Wisconsin.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Stevens County, Watonwan County, Pope County, Grant County, Yellow Medicine County, Lincoln County, Pennington County, Murray County, Pine County, Big Stone County, Marshall County, Polk County, Red Lake County, and Aitkin County voted for the Democratic candidate.

Results

2008 United States presidential election in Minnesota[20]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic (DFL) Barack Obama Joe Biden 1,573,354 54.06% 10
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 1,275,409 43.82% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 30,152 1.04% 0
Independent Write-in candidates 9,496 0.33% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 9,174 0.32% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 6,787 0.23% 0
Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 5,174 0.18% 0
Socialist Workers Róger Calero Alyson Kennedy 790 0.03% 0
Independent Alan Keyes (write-in) Brian Rohrbough 22 0.00% 0
Socialist Party USA Brian Moore (write-in) Stewart Alexander 7 0.00% 0
Independent Joe Schriner (write-in) Dale Way 3 0.00% 0
Independent Curtis Montgomery (write-in) Janice Montgomery 1 0.00% 0
Totals 2,910,369 100.00% 10
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 74.7%

By county

County Barack Obama
DFL
John McCain
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Aitkin 4,595 48.83% 4,589 48.77% 226 2.40% 6 0.06% 9,410
Anoka 86,976 47.73% 91,357 50.13% 3,891 2.14% -4,381 -2.40% 182,224
Becker 7,687 45.31% 8,851 52.17% 427 2.52% -1,164 -6.86% 16,965
Beltrami 12,019 54.05% 9,762 43.90% 455 2.05% 2,257 10.15% 22,236
Benton 8,454 43.71% 10,338 53.46% 547 2.83% -1,884 -9.75% 19,339
Big Stone 1,552 51.91% 1,362 45.55% 76 2.54% 190 6.36% 2,990
Blue Earth 19,325 55.10% 14,782 42.15% 963 2.75% 4,543 12.95% 35,070
Brown 5,809 42.65% 7,456 54.74% 355 2.61% -1,647 -12.09% 13,620
Carlton 11,501 62.34% 6,549 35.50% 399 2.16% 4,952 26.84% 18,449
Carver 20,654 41.57% 28,156 56.67% 873 1.76% -7,502 -15.10% 49,683
Cass 7,276 44.62% 8,660 53.11% 371 2.27% -1,384 -8.49% 16,307
Chippewa 3,280 51.60% 2,907 45.74% 169 2.66% 373 5.86% 6,356
Chisago 12,783 43.62% 15,789 53.88% 733 2.50% -3,006 -10.26% 29,305
Clay 16,666 56.96% 11,978 40.94% 615 2.10% 4,688 16.02% 29,259
Clearwater 1,877 44.05% 2,291 53.77% 93 2.18% -414 -9.72% 4,261
Cook 2,019 60.30% 1,240 37.04% 89 2.66% 779 23.26% 3,348
Cottonwood 2,759 45.71% 3,157 52.30% 120 1.99% -398 -6.59% 6,036
Crow Wing 15,859 45.10% 18,567 52.80% 739 2.10% -2,708 -7.70% 35,165
Dakota 116,778 51.79% 104,364 46.29% 4,330 1.92% 12,414 5.50% 225,472
Dodge 4,463 43.70% 5,468 53.54% 282 2.76% -1,005 -9.84% 10,213
Douglas 9,256 44.25% 11,241 53.74% 421 2.01% -1,985 -9.49% 20,918
Faribault 3,736 45.83% 4,196 51.47% 220 2.70% -460 -5.64% 8,152
Fillmore 5,921 52.71% 4,993 44.45% 320 2.84% 928 8.26% 11,234
Freeborn 9,915 57.38% 6,955 40.25% 410 2.37% 2,960 17.13% 17,280
Goodhue 12,420 48.15% 12,775 49.53% 600 2.32% -355 -1.38% 25,795
Grant 1,850 51.32% 1,646 45.66% 109 3.02% 204 5.66% 3,605
Hennepin 420,958 63.42% 231,054 34.81% 11,768 1.77% 189,904 28.61% 663,780
Houston 5,906 54.27% 4,743 43.58% 234 2.15% 1,163 10.69% 10,883
Hubbard 4,872 41.86% 6,558 56.35% 208 1.79% -1,686 -14.49% 11,638
Isanti 8,248 41.13% 11,324 56.47% 481 2.40% -3,076 -15.34% 20,053
Itasca 13,460 55.18% 10,309 42.26% 626 2.56% 3,151 12.92% 24,395
Jackson 2,618 46.56% 2,858 50.83% 147 2.61% -240 -4.27% 5,623
Kanabec 3,743 44.04% 4,479 52.70% 277 3.26% -736 -8.66% 8,499
Kandiyohi 10,125 46.24% 11,319 51.70% 451 2.06% -1,194 -5.46% 21,895
Kittson 1,492 58.10% 1,016 39.56% 60 2.34% 476 18.54% 2,568
Koochiching 3,649 53.65% 2,962 43.55% 191 2.80% 687 10.10% 6,802
Lac qui Parle 2,160 51.53% 1,912 45.61% 120 2.86% 248 5.92% 4,192
Lake 4,174 59.89% 2,636 37.82% 159 2.29% 1,538 22.07% 6,969
Lake of the Woods 971 41.98% 1,278 55.25% 64 2.77% -307 -13.27% 2,313
Le Sueur 6,994 46.60% 7,636 50.88% 379 2.52% -642 -4.28% 15,009
Lincoln 1,517 48.53% 1,491 47.70% 118 3.77% 26 0.83% 3,126
Lyon 6,110 48.08% 6,315 49.69% 283 2.23% -205 -1.61% 12,708
McLeod 7,505 39.44% 10,993 57.77% 531 2.79% -3,488 -18.33% 19,029
Mahnomen 1,436 61.29% 843 35.98% 64 2.73% 593 25.31% 2,343
Marshall 2,311 48.77% 2,285 48.22% 143 3.01% 26 0.55% 4,739
Martin 4,413 41.04% 6,053 56.29% 288 2.67% -1,640 -15.25% 10,754
Meeker 5,380 42.89% 6,737 53.70% 428 3.41% -1,357 -10.81% 12,545
Mille Lacs 6,072 44.83% 7,049 52.05% 423 3.12% -977 -7.22% 13,544
Morrison 6,547 39.10% 9,735 58.14% 461 2.76% -3,188 -19.04% 16,743
Mower 11,605 60.48% 7,075 36.87% 507 2.65% 4,530 23.61% 19,187
Murray 2,345 48.72% 2,320 48.20% 148 3.08% 25 0.52% 4,813
Nicollet 9,887 54.19% 7,968 43.67% 390 2.14% 1,919 10.52% 18,245
Nobles 4,244 48.16% 4,368 49.56% 201 2.28% -124 -1.40% 8,813
Norman 2,129 62.00% 1,204 35.06% 101 2.94% 925 26.94% 3,434
Olmsted 38,711 50.62% 36,202 47.34% 1,557 2.04% 2,509 3.28% 76,470
Otter Tail 13,856 42.39% 18,077 55.30% 754 2.31% -4,221 -12.91% 32,687
Pennington 3,394 49.75% 3,248 47.61% 180 2.64% 146 2.14% 6,822
Pine 7,084 49.25% 6,862 47.71% 437 3.04% 222 1.54% 14,383
Pipestone 2,023 42.14% 2,652 55.24% 126 2.62% -629 -13.10% 4,801
Polk 7,850 51.19% 7,148 46.62% 336 2.19% 702 4.57% 15,334
Pope 3,317 50.75% 3,069 46.96% 150 2.29% 248 3.79% 6,536
Ramsey 182,974 65.96% 88,942 32.06% 5,470 1.98% 94,032 33.90% 277,386
Red Lake 1,120 51.12% 983 44.87% 88 4.01% 137 6.25% 2,191
Redwood 3,250 41.63% 4,308 55.19% 248 3.18% -1,058 -13.56% 7,806
Renville 3,904 47.99% 3,956 48.63% 275 3.38% -52 -0.64% 8,135
Rice 17,381 54.66% 13,723 43.16% 695 2.18% 3,658 11.50% 31,799
Rock 2,079 41.79% 2,775 55.78% 121 2.43% -696 -13.99% 4,975
Roseau 3,097 40.22% 4,438 57.64% 165 2.14% -1,341 -17.42% 7,700
St. Louis 77,351 65.10% 38,742 32.61% 2,721 2.29% 38,609 32.49% 118,814
Scott 29,208 43.51% 36,724 54.70% 1,200 1.79% -7,516 -11.19% 67,132
Sherburne 17,957 39.91% 26,140 58.10% 893 1.99% -8,183 -18.19% 44,990
Sibley 2,998 38.79% 4,492 58.12% 239 3.09% -1,494 -19.33% 7,729
Stearns 35,690 45.32% 41,194 52.31% 1,872 2.37% -5,504 -6.99% 78,756
Steele 9,016 45.87% 10,068 51.22% 572 2.91% -1,052 -5.35% 19,656
Stevens 2,781 49.36% 2,710 48.10% 143 2.54% 71 1.26% 5,634
Swift 2,907 55.43% 2,184 41.65% 153 2.92% 723 13.78% 5,244
Todd 5,277 43.05% 6,637 54.15% 343 2.80% -1,360 -11.10% 12,257
Traverse 1,043 51.25% 933 45.85% 59 2.90% 110 5.40% 2,035
Wabasha 5,646 47.47% 5,935 49.90% 312 2.63% -289 -2.43% 11,893
Wadena 2,882 40.20% 4,128 57.58% 159 2.22% -1,246 -17.38% 7,169
Waseca 4,401 44.51% 5,211 52.70% 276 2.79% -810 -8.19% 9,888
Washington 70,277 51.27% 64,334 46.94% 2,448 1.79% 5,943 4.33% 137,059
Watonwan 2,562 48.73% 2,526 48.04% 170 3.23% 36 0.69% 5,258
Wilkin 1,550 45.40% 1,786 52.31% 78 2.29% -236 -6.91% 3,414
Winona 16,308 58.38% 10,975 39.29% 652 2.33% 5,333 19.09% 27,935
Wright 26,343 40.17% 37,779 57.61% 1,456 2.22% -11,436 -17.44% 65,578
Yellow Medicine 2,816 50.57% 2,579 46.31% 174 3.12% 237 4.26% 5,569
Totals 1,573,354 54.06% 1,275,409 43.82% 61,606 2.12% 297,945 10.24% 2,910,369
Palin speaking at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St Paul, Minnesota.
County Flips:

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By congressional district

Barack Obama carried 5 of the 8 congressional districts, including one seat held by a Republican. John McCain carried three congressional districts, including one seat held by a Democrat.

District McCain Obama Representative
1st 46.59% 50.96% Tim Walz
2nd 49.76% 48.32% John Kline
3rd 45.99% 52.41% Jim Ramstad (110th Congress)
Erik Paulsen (111th Congress)
4th 33.57% 64.41% Betty McCollum
5th 23.79% 74.15% Keith Ellison
6th 53.33% 44.60% Michele Bachmann
7th 50.10% 47.39% Collin Peterson
8th 44.50% 53.10% Jim Oberstar

Electors

Technically the voters of Minnesota heir ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Minnesota is allocated 10 electors because it has 8 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 10 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 10 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Following an apparent mishap in the previous election, whereby an elector pledged to Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry instead cast their vote for running-mate John Edwards and thus became a faithless elector, Minnesota amended its statutes and became one of the few states whereby electors are legally required to vote for the candidate they are pledged to. This was the first election where the new laws were effective.[21]

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 10 were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:[22]

  1. Arthur A. Anderson
  2. Jim Gremmels
  3. Dave Lee
  4. Al Patton
  5. Joan M. Wittman
  6. William J. Davis
  7. Benjamin F. Gross
  8. Matt Little
  9. Jackie Stevenson
  10. Susan Kay Moravec - replaced Donyta J. Wright who did not appear for the ceremony[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Office of the State Of Minnesota Secretary of State". www.sos.state.mn.us. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  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 com". POLITICO. 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. ^ "Minnesota: McCain vs. Obama". Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  16. ^ "Presidential Campaign Finance". Federal Election Commission. Archived from the original on March 24, 2009. Retrieved August 19, 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. ^ "Election Results 2008". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 3, 2004. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  20. ^ "Official General Election Results". Minnesota Secretary of State. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
  21. ^ "208.08, 2008 Minnesota Statutes". Revisor.leg.state.mn.us. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  22. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2008. Retrieved April 19, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. ^ Citizen Elector