Super Tuesday II, 2008 is the name, for 4 March 2008 the day on which the second largest simultaneous number of state
presidential primary elections was held for the
2008 presidential election cycle. On this day,
Mike Huckabee
Michael Dale Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician, Baptist minister, and political commentator who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomina ...
withdrew from the race when
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
won enough delegates to claim the Republican nomination for president. It was the second
Super Tuesday election of 2008 and took place approximately one month after the first
Super Tuesday of this election. The
Democratic primaries
This is a list of Democratic Party presidential primaries.
1912
This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson ran to become the nominee, and faced the opposition of Speaker of the Uni ...
saw 444
delegate
Delegate or delegates may refer to:
* Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia
* Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique
* Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations
* Delegate (United ...
s selected on this date, with 265 delegates in the
Republican primaries.
Names and prior election cycles
After the front-loading rush that saw twenty-four states hold their
caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.
The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...
es and
primaries
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...
on
Super Tuesday, 2008, only four states -
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
,
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, and
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
- remained on the traditional March Super Tuesday date. This caused pundits in the states left behind to note that "this year, however, Super Tuesday isn't so super." The 2004 election cycle saw a similar but smaller split, with seven states holding elections in February on
Mini-Tuesday
Mini-Tuesday was the name given to the February 3, 2004 U.S. presidential primary where several states, which to that point had participated in "Super Tuesday," cast their votes for the Presidential nominees of the 2004 Presidential election.
...
, and ten holding contests on ''Super Tuesday II'' on the traditional March date.
Delegate allocation
Democratic
Under Democratic Party rules, all delegates are awarded via
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
, with a minimum 15% threshold required to receive delegates. A total of 444 delegates were pledged by the results of the March 4th primaries.
Republican
The Republican Party does not mandate a proportional representation system for delegate selection, but instead allows each state to determine its selection process. A total of 265 delegates were pledged by the results of the March 4th primaries.
Results
Democratic
Republican
Super Tuesday III
Super Tuesday III was the name
[
] for 6 May 2008, the day on which the states of
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
and
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
held
primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
s for both the Democratic and Republican nominations.
It was a day tied for the fifth-largest simultaneous number of state
presidential primary elections to be held in the
2008 presidential election cycle.
[
][
] It was the third
Super Tuesday election of 2008 and took place approximately two months after Super Tuesday II, 2008. The
Democratic primaries
This is a list of Democratic Party presidential primaries.
1912
This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson ran to become the nominee, and faced the opposition of Speaker of the Uni ...
had a total of 218
delegate
Delegate or delegates may refer to:
* Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia
* Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique
* Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations
* Delegate (United ...
s selected on this date, with 126 delegates chosen in the
Republican primaries.
Names and prior election cycles
Pundits have noted that this is the first time that Indiana has garnered widespread attention from presidential primary candidates since
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...
campaigned in the state during the
1968 election.
The unexpected relevance of the Indiana Democratic primary has also resulted in much higher than normal
voter registration
In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote.
The ru ...
.
Likewise, North Carolina Democratic new voter registrations are triple the number reported for the same time period during the 2004 election.
"Super Tuesday III" was largely considered the "Waterloo" of the Democratic primaries. Obama had been under fire for
controversial remarks made by
Jeremiah Wright, and his lead in North Carolina polls had been reduced to single digits, so Clinton's double-digit loss in that state was a major disappointment. Further hurting Clinton's campaign was the time-zone differences, as the defeat was reported in prime time, and the news of the narrow victory in Indiana had come too late.
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
's
Tim Russert was quoted as saying "She did not get the game-changer she wanted tonight."
Demographics also played a role as North Carolina featured a lot of African-American as well as young voters in college towns, key groups who have favored Obama during the race. Indiana on the other hand had a significant number of blue-collar and rural voters, groups who favoured Clinton however the race was close as votes from nearly 330,000 people who live in Lake County, directly neighboring Chicago, an Obama stronghold were being counted.
Results
Democratic
Under Democratic Party rules, all delegates are awarded via
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
, with a minimum 15% threshold required to receive delegates. A total of 218 delegates will be pledged by the results of the May 6th primaries.
Republican
The Republican Party does not mandate a proportional representation system for delegate selection, but instead allows each state to determine its selection process. A total of 126 delegates will be pledged by the results of the May 6th primaries. The Republican primaries on this date were of little importance, as
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
had already secured enough delegates in prior contests to win the nomination.
Super Tuesday IV
Super Tuesday IV was held on May 20, 2008, consisting of the
Democratic Kentucky and Oregon primaries. A total of 125 delegates were seated as a result of these primaries.
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
handily won the Kentucky primary and
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 U ...
handily won the Oregon primary.
Notes
* WTA is
Winner Takes All, and applies solely to
Republican contests.
References
See also
*
Mini-Tuesday
Mini-Tuesday was the name given to the February 3, 2004 U.S. presidential primary where several states, which to that point had participated in "Super Tuesday," cast their votes for the Presidential nominees of the 2004 Presidential election.
...
*
Super Tuesday
*
Super Tuesday, 2008
*
Presidential nomination process (US)
{{2008Repprimaries
2008 United States presidential primaries