The 2008

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

Democratic presidential primary was an

open primary Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...

that took place on March 4, 2008.

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

won the primary, his only decisive win among the four March 4 contests. The primary determined the 15 pledged

delegates 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 ...

that represented

at the

2008 Democratic National Convention The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform an ...

. The delegates were awarded to the candidates, Obama and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

, on a proportional basis. Vermont also sent 8 unpledged "

superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is a delegate to a presidential nominating convention who is seated automatically. In Democratic National Conventions, superdelegates—described in formal party rules as the party leaders and electe ...

s", to the convention not bound by the results of the primary.

Delegate breakdown

The

Vermont Democratic Party The Vermont Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Vermont. Since the founding of the Republican Party until the 1960s, Vermont was almost exclusively a Republican state, with Republicans dominating Verm ...

sent 23 total delegates to the

. Of those delegates, 15 were pledged and 8 were unpledged. The 15 pledged delegates were allocated (pledged) to vote for a particular candidate at the National Convention according to the results of Vermont's Democratic primary on March 4. The 8 unpledged delegates (popularly called "superdelegates" because their votes represented their personal decisions rather than the collective decision of many voters) were free to vote for any candidate at the National Convention and were selected by the Vermont Democratic Party's officials. The 15 pledged delegates were further divided into 10 district delegates and 5 statewide delegates. The 10 district delegates represented Vermont's single Congressional District. The 5 statewide delegates were divided into 3 at-large delegates and 2 Party Leaders and Elected Officials (abbreviated PLEOs). Of the 8 unpledged delegates, 7 were selected in advance and 1 was selected at the Vermont Democratic Party's National Convention Delegate Meeting on June 7. The delegates selected in advance were 5 Democratic National Committee members, U.S. Representative from Vermont

Peter Welch Peter Francis Welch (born May 2, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2023 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party (Unit ...

, and U.S. Senator from Vermont

Patrick Leahy Patrick Joseph Leahy ( ; born March 31, 1940) is an American politician and attorney who represented Vermont in the United States Senate from 1975 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he also was the pr ...

Delegate selection process

The Vermont Democratic Party used the results of the state's presidential preference primary on March 4 to determine the allocation of delegates to each presidential candidate. Though the primary was used for allocating delegates, the delegates themselves were selected in a

caucus A caucus is a group or 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 ...

process. On March 22, the Party held a series of town-level caucuses to select its first tier of delegates. On May 24, the Party held its state convention in which the town-level delegates selected the 10 district-level delegates to attend the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The remaining 5 pledged delegates, plus the remaining unpledged delegate, were selected at the Vermont Democratic Party's National Convention Delegate Meeting on June 7.

Polls

On February 24, 2008, polls showed Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton by an average margin of 24% (57% to 33%), with 10% Not Sure.2008 Vermont Democratic Presidential Primary

Results

References

{{2008Demprimaries

2008 Vermont elections

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Delegate breakdown

Delegate selection process

Polls

Results

See also

References