2008 United States presidential election in Louisiana

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.

Main article: 2008 United States presidential election
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 58.56% 39.93%
Parish Results
President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

 Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elections in Louisiana
Government

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 the 1968 Presidential election that Louisiana failed to back the winning candidate when it voted for a third party candidate that year.

Primaries
  • Louisiana Democratic primary, 2008
  • Louisiana Republican caucuses and primary, 2008

Campaign

Predictions

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

Polling

McCain won every pre-election poll. The final 3 polls averaged McCain leading 50% to 40%.[14]

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $2,175,416 in the state. Barack Obama raised $1,438,276.[15]

Advertising and visits

Obama spent $368,039. McCain and his interest groups spent $6,019.[16] McCain visited the state once, in New Orleans.[17]

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%,[18] 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[19]
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# Others% Others# Total
Acadia26.31%7,02871.99%19,2291.70%45426,711
Allen30.54%2,89166.90%6,3332.57%2439,467
Ascension31.40%14,62567.08%31,2391.52%70746,571
Assumption43.39%4,75654.57%5,9812.03%22310,960
Avoyelles37.35%6,32760.43%10,2362.21%37516,938
Beauregard21.82%3,07176.15%10,7182.03%28514,074
Bienville48.30%3,58950.82%3,7760.87%657,430
Bossier27.71%12,70371.37%32,7130.91%41945,835
Caddo51.11%55,53648.07%52,2280.82%896108,660
Calcasieu36.82%30,24461.43%50,4491.75%1,43882,131
Caldwell22.85%1,11875.54%3,6961.61%794,893
Cameron16.16%61381.44%3,0892.40%913,793
Catahoula31.75%1,65966.72%3,4861.53%805,225
Claiborne44.22%3,02554.82%3,7500.96%666,841
Concordia39.53%3,76659.49%5,6680.98%939,527
De Soto42.77%5,24256.16%6,8831.08%13212,257
East Baton Rouge50.50%99,65248.34%95,3901.17%2,307197,349
East Carroll63.70%2,26735.23%1,2541.07%383,559
East Feliciana44.06%4,38354.61%5,4321.33%1329,947
Evangeline36.64%5,85361.30%9,7932.07%33015,976
Franklin31.64%2,96167.09%6,2781.27%1199,358
Grant17.22%1,47480.71%6,9072.07%1778,558
Iberia37.66%12,49260.68%20,1271.66%54933,168
Iberville54.95%9,02343.75%7,1851.30%21316,421
Jackson31.75%2,45667.09%5,1901.16%907,736
Jefferson35.94%65,09662.50%113,1911.56%2,833181,120
Jefferson Davis29.06%3,92368.72%9,2782.22%30013,501
Lafayette33.61%32,14564.88%62,0551.51%1,44295,642
Lafourche25.50%9,66271.49%27,0893.01%1,14237,893
LaSalle13.12%86085.49%5,6021.39%916,553
Lincoln43.23%8,29255.69%10,6801.08%20719,179
Livingston13.13%6,68185.02%43,2691.85%94250,892
Madison58.49%3,10040.60%2,1520.91%485,300
Morehouse43.88%5,79254.98%7,2581.14%15013,200
Natchitoches45.71%7,80153.05%9,0541.24%21217,067
Orleans79.42%117,10219.08%28,1301.50%2,207147,439
Ouachita36.90%24,81362.07%41,7411.03%69067,244
Plaquemines32.35%3,38065.98%6,8941.67%17510,449
Pointe Coupee44.36%5,51653.90%6,7021.75%21712,435
Rapides34.99%20,12763.65%36,6111.36%78357,521
Red River44.93%2,08053.66%2,4841.40%654,629
Richland36.06%3,31162.64%5,7511.30%1199,181
Sabine23.26%2,24574.87%7,2261.88%1819,652
St. Bernard25.78%3,49171.21%9,6433.01%40713,541
St. Charles33.56%8,52264.80%16,4571.65%41825,397
St. Helena57.68%3,56740.78%2,5221.54%956,184
St. James55.67%6,99443.23%5,4321.10%13812,564
St. John the Baptist57.37%12,42441.15%8,9121.48%32021,656
St. Landry47.70%20,26850.95%21,6501.35%57542,493
St. Martin38.84%9,41959.55%14,4431.61%39024,252
St. Mary40.80%9,34557.56%13,1831.64%37522,903
St. Tammany22.45%24,59675.84%83,0781.71%1,868109,542
Tangipahoa33.82%16,43864.68%31,4341.50%73048,602
Tensas54.14%1,64644.97%1,3670.89%273,040
Terrebonne28.46%11,58169.32%28,2102.22%90540,696
Union28.55%3,10370.10%7,6191.34%14610,868
Vermilion25.23%6,26672.76%18,0692.01%49824,833
Vernon22.41%3,53475.76%11,9461.83%28915,769
Washington32.87%6,12265.59%12,2151.54%28718,624
Webster36.18%6,61062.49%11,4171.33%24318,270
West Baton Rouge42.50%5,04356.08%6,6541.42%16911,866
West Carroll17.61%87881.11%4,0451.28%644,987
West Feliciana42.97%2,41556.05%3,1500.98%555,620
Winn30.23%2,04768.40%4,6321.37%936,772

By congressional district

John McCain carried 6 of the state’s 7 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
Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential 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.[20] 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:[21]

  1. Lynn Skidmore
  2. Joe Lavigne
  3. Gordon Giles - He replaced Billy Nungesser, who was absent due to illness.[22]
  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". Archived from the original on 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  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. Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily
  5. Based on Takeaway
  6. POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com
  7. RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map
  8. CQ Politics | CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008 Archived June 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Electoral College Map". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  10. "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  11. "Winning the Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
  12. roadto270
  13. Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™
  14. Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
  15. "Presidential Campaign Finance". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  16. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  17. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2008-12-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. "Official General Election Results". The Green Papers. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
  20. "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  21. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 8, 2008. Retrieved November 8, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9525360%5B%5D

See also
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.