The 2008 Oregon Democratic presidential primary was a mail-only primary in the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. Ballots were mailed to registered Democratic voters between May 2 and May 6, 2008. To be counted, all ballots had to have been received by county elections offices by 8:00 p.m. PDT on May 20, 2008. It was a closed primary and voters had to have registered as Democrats by April 29, 2008 to be eligible to vote in any of the partisan races. Barack Obama won the presidential primary with 58% of the vote. At the time of the election there were 868,371 registered Democratic voters; 73.56% of them voted in this election.

Delegates

Oregon had a total of 65 delegates at the

2008 Democratic National Convention The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for president and vice president. The convent ...

. Of these, 52 pledged delegates were allocated proportionally to one of the Democratic Presidential candidates in the primary. (The delegates themselves, along with nine alternates, were elected at a later date.) The 52 pledged delegates were allocated as follows: *

Oregon's 1st congressional district Oregon's 1st congressional district is a congressional district located in the U.S state of Oregon. The district stretches from Portland's western suburbs and exurbs, to parts of the Oregon coast. The district includes the principal cities of ...

: 7 *

Oregon's 2nd congressional district Oregon's 2nd congressional district is the largest of Oregon's six districts, and is the seventh largest district in the nation. It is the second-largest congressional district in the nation that does not cover an entire state. The district ...

: 5 *

Oregon's 3rd congressional district Oregon's 3rd congressional district covers most of Multnomah County, including Gresham, Troutdale, and most of Portland east of the Willamette River (parts of Northwest and Southwest Portland lie in the 1st and 5th districts). It also in ...

: 9 *

Oregon's 4th congressional district Oregon's 4th congressional district represents the southern half of Oregon's coastal counties, including Coos, Curry, Douglas, Lane, and Benton counties and most of Linn and Josephine counties. It is centered around the state's two colleg ...

: 7 *

Oregon's 5th congressional district Oregon's 5th congressional district represents Oregon's central coast through Salem, north to the southern Portland suburbs – including a sliver of Portland itself – and east to the summit of Mount Hood. It includes Lincoln, Mari ...

: 6 *At-large: 12 *Pledged

superdelegates In American politics, a superdelegate is an unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote. These Democratic Party superdelegates (who make up slightly under 15 ...

: 6 Oregon also had 13 unpledged

, all of whom endorsed Obama (though Kulongoski and Hooley originally endorsed Clinton in the primaries): *Governor

Ted Kulongoski Theodore Ralph Kulongoski ( ; born November 5, 1940) is an American politician, judge, and lawyer who served as the 36th Governor of Oregon from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative As ...

*U.S. Senator Ron Wyden *Congressman

David Wu David Wu (born April 8, 1955) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1999 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. As a child of immigrants from Taiwan, Wu was the first Taiwanese American to serve ...

*Congressman

Earl Blumenauer Earl Francis Blumenauer ( ; born August 16, 1948) is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 1996. The district includes most of Portland east of the Willamette River. A member of the Democrat ...

*Congressman

Peter DeFazio Peter Anthony DeFazio (; born May 27, 1947) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for , serving since 1987. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes Eugene, Springfield, Corvallis, Roseburg, Coos B ...

*Congresswoman

Darlene Hooley Darlene Kay Olson Hooley (born April 4, 1939) is an American politician and former Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon who represented the state's . A high school teacher by profession, she served as a city coun ...

*Secretary of State

Bill Bradbury Bill Bradbury (born May 29, 1949) is an American politician who served as a member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly and as the 23rd Oregon secretary of state from 1999 to 2009. Bradbury was an unsuccessful candidate for the 2010 Oregon gube ...

(by association with the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State) * DNC member Frank Dixon * DNC member Jenny Greenleaf * DNC member Wayne Kinney * DNC member Gail Rasmussen * DNC member and DPO chair Meredith Wood Smith * Former Governor

Barbara Roberts Barbara Kay Roberts (née Hughey; born December 21, 1936) is an American politician from the state of Oregon. A native of the state, she served as the 34th Governor of Oregon from 1991 to 1995. She was the first woman to serve as Oregon governo ...

(unpledged delegate, elected at the state Democratic convention on June 21)

Polling

May 18 Obama rally

On May 18, 2008,

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

addressed a rally in

Tom McCall Waterfront Park Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a park located in downtown Portland, Oregon, along the Willamette River. After the 1974 removal of Harbor Drive, a major milestone in the freeway removal movement, the park was opened to the public in 19 ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, with a crowd estimated at 72,000 (60,000 inside the gates and another 12,000 outside). This crowd was the largest ever to greet Obama, surpassing his previous record of 35,000 people in Pennsylvania. It was also likely the largest-ever political rally in Oregon, surpassing the

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

rally in 2004, which drew 50,000. Large, media-attracting rallies and meetings such as this were noted to make a substantial difference in electorate enthusiasm and volunteer sign-ups for both Democratic Party potential candidates.

Results

Primary date: May 20, 2008 National pledged delegates determined: 52

References

External links

Oregon Democratic Party website
{{OR2008elections

Democratic