United States presidential election in Louisiana, 2008

United States presidential election in Louisiana, 2008
November 4, 2008

 
Nominee John McCain Barack Obama
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Arizona Illinois
Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden
Electoral vote 9 0
Popular vote 1,148,275 782,989
Percentage 58.6% 39.9%
Parish Results
President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

 Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

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

Louisiana was won by Republican nominee John McCain by an 18.6% 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". Although Bill Clinton carried the state twice, it had been trending Republican in recent years, despite having the second-highest percentage of African Americans in the country in 2000. Louisiana is rapidly turning into a more reliable red state as solidified by the comfortable margin enjoyed by McCain in 2008. This would also be the first time since 1968 that Louisiana failed to back the winning candidate since being among the most recent states to vote third party that same year as well.

Primaries

Campaign

Predictions

There were 17 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

  1. D.C. Political Report: Republican[1]
  2. Cook Political Report: Solid Republican[2]
  3. Takeaway: Solid McCain[3]
  4. Election Projection: Solid McCain[4]
  5. Electoral-vote.com: Strong Republican[5]
  6. Washington Post: Solid McCain[6]
  7. Politico: Solid McCain[7]
  8. Real Clear Politics: Solid McCain[8]
  9. FiveThirtyEight.com: Solid McCain[6]
  10. CQ Politics: Safe Republican[9]
  11. New York Times: Solid Republican[10]
  12. CNN: Safe Republican[11]
  13. NPR: Solid McCain[6]
  14. MSNBC: Solid McCain[6]
  15. Fox News: Republican[12]
  16. Associated Press: Republican[13]
  17. Rasmussen Reports: Safe Republican[14]

Polling

McCain won every pre-election poll. The final 3 polls averaged McCain leading 50% to 40%.[15]

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $2,175,416 in the state. Barack Obama raised $1,438,276.[16]

Advertising and visits

Obama spent $368,039. McCain and his interest groups spent $6,019.[17] McCain visited the state once, in New Orleans.[18]

Analysis

Voters wait in queue at a polling station in New Orleans

Polling in Louisiana gave a strong lead to McCain, sometimes as high as 19%,[19] and Barack Obama did not seriously contest the state. Governor Bobby Jindal endorsed McCain early on in the primary season. Louisiana was also one of only two states to list Ron Paul on their official ballot (the other being Montana which gave the largest percentage to any third-party candidate nationwide).

In 2008, Louisiana was one of five states that swung even more Republican from 2004. John McCain carried Louisiana with 58.56% of the vote, a tad bit better than George W. Bush's 56.72% of the vote in 2004.

At the same time, however, incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu avoided the Republican trend in the state and held onto her U.S. Senate seat, taking in 52.11% of the vote to State Treasurer John N. Kennedy, a Democrat who switched parties to run against Landrieu. Republicans picked up two U.S. House seats in Louisiana (LA-02 and LA-06 with Joseph Cao and Bill Cassidy, respectively). In an extremely bad year for the Republican Party nationwide, Louisiana provided the GOP with a ray of hope and optimism.

Results

United States presidential election in Louisiana, 2008[20]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 1,148,275 58.56% 9
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 782,989 39.93% 0
Louisiana Taxpayers Ron Paul (no campaign) Barry Goldwater, Jr. 9,368 0.48% 0
Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 9,187 0.47% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 6,997 0.36% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 2,581 0.13% 0
Socialist Workers James Harris Alyson Kennedy 735 0.04% 0
Socialism and Liberation Gloria La Riva Eugene Puryear 354 0.02% 0
Prohibition Gene Amondson Leroy Pletten 275 0.01% 0
Totals 1,960,761 100.00% 9
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 62.0%

Results breakdown

By parish

Parish Obama% Obama# McCain% McCain#
Acadia26.77%7,02873.23%19,228
Allen31.34%2,89168.66%6,333
Ascension31.89%14,62068.11%31,225
Assumption44.30%4,75655.70%5,981
Avoyelles38.20%6,32761.80%10,234
Beauregard22.27%3,07177.73%10,718
Bienville48.73%3,58951.27%3,776
Bossier27.97%12,70172.03%32,706
Caddo51.45%55,22048.55%52,105
Calcasieu37.48%30,22762.52%50,431
Caldwell23.22%1,11876.78%3,696
Cameron16.56%61383.44%3,089
Catahoula32.24%1,65967.76%3,486
Claiborne44.65%3,02555.35%3,750
Concordia39.92%3,76660.08%5,668
De Soto43.23%5,24156.77%6,882
East Baton Rouge51.06%99,43148.94%95,297
East Carroll64.39%2,26735.61%1,254
East Feliciana44.66%4,38355.34%5,431
Evangeline37.41%5,85262.59%9,792
Franklin32.03%2,95967.97%6,278
Grant17.59%1,47482.41%6,906
Iberia38.30%12,49261.70%20,123
Iberville55.67%9,02344.33%7,185
Jackson32.12%2,45667.88%5,190
Jefferson Davis29.72%3,92370.28%9,277
Jefferson36.46%64,85363.54%113,008
Lafayette34.12%32,14565.88%62,055
Lafourche26.29%9,66273.71%27,089
LaSalle13.31%86086.69%5,601
Lincoln43.64%8,26756.36%10,676
Livingston13.37%6,67486.63%43,247
Madison59.03%3,10040.97%2,152
Morehouse44.37%5,78955.63%7,258
Natchitoches46.28%7,80153.72%9,054
Orleans80.54%116,04219.46%28,041
Ouachita37.26%24,76962.74%41,708
Plaquemines32.90%3,37867.10%6,889
Pointe Coupee45.15%5,51654.85%6,702
Rapides35.46%20,10964.54%36,605
Red River45.57%2,08054.43%2,484
Richland36.54%3,31163.46%5,751
Sabine23.70%2,24576.30%7,226
St. Bernard26.58%3,49173.42%9,642
St. Charles34.11%8,51965.89%16,456
St. Helena58.58%3,56741.42%2,522
St. James56.28%6,99343.72%5,432
St. John58.23%12,42041.77%8,908
St. Landry48.35%20,26751.65%21,647
St. Martin39.47%9,41960.53%14,443
St. Mary41.48%9,34258.52%13,181
St. Tammany22.84%24,58977.16%83,047
Tangipahoa34.33%16,42765.67%31,421
Tensas54.63%1,64645.37%1,367
Terrebonne29.10%11,57970.90%28,208
Union28.94%3,10371.06%7,619
Verm25.73%6,26174.27%18,069
Vernon22.83%3,53477.17%11,946
Washington33.39%6,12266.61%12,215
Webster36.67%6,61063.33%11,417
West Baton Rouge43.11%5,04356.89%6,654
West Carroll17.83%87882.17%4,045
West Feliciana43.39%2,41456.61%3,149
Winn30.64%2,04469.36%4,628

By congressional district

John McCain carried six of the state’s seven congressional districts.

District McCain Obama Representative
1st 72.72% 25.68% Bobby Jindal (110th Congress)
Steve Scalise (111th Congress)
2nd 24.86% 74.13% William J. Jefferson (110th Congress)
Joseph Cao (111th Congress)
3rd 60.99% 37.03% Charles Melancon
4th 59.28% 39.57% Jim McCrery (110th Congress)
John C. Fleming (111th Congress)
5th 61.75% 36.96% Rodney Alexander
6th 57.40% 41.26% Don Cazayoux (110th Congress)
Bill Cassidy (111th Congress)
7th 63.14% 35.20% Charles Boustany

Electors

Technically the voters of Louisiana cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Louisiana is allocated 9 electors because it has 7 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 9 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 9 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 9 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:[22]

  1. Lynn Skidmore
  2. Joe Lavigne
  3. Gordon Giles - He replaced Billy Nungesser, who was absent due to illness.[23]
  4. Alan Seabaugh
  5. Karen Haymon
  6. Charles Davis
  7. Charlie Buckels
  8. Dianne Christopher
  9. Roger F. Villere, Jr.

References

  1. ↑ D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries
  2. ↑ Presidential | The Cook Political Report Archived May 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Vote 2008 - The Takeaway - Track the Electoral College vote predictions Archived April 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Election Projection: 2008 Elections - Polls, Projections, Results
  5. ↑ Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily
  6. 1 2 3 4 Based on Takeaway
  7. ↑ POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com
  8. ↑ RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map
  9. ↑ CQ Politics | CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008 Archived June 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ "Electoral College Map". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  11. ↑ "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Winning the Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
  13. ↑ roadto270
  14. ↑ Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™
  15. ↑ Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
  16. ↑ Presidential Campaign Finance
  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. ↑ http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/louisiana/election_2008_louisiana_president
  20. ↑ "Official General Election Results". The Green Papers. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
  21. ↑ "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  22. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 8, 2008. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
  23. ↑ http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9525360%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D

See also

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