Ohio Democratic primary, 2008

Ohio Democratic primary, 2008

2004 ← March 4, 2008 (2008-03-04) → 2012

Nominee Hillary Clinton Barack Obama Party Democratic Democratic Home state New York Illinois Popular vote 1,259,620 1,055,769 Percentage 53.49% 44.84%

Election results by county. Dodger Blue denotes counties won by Clinton, and Light Blue denotes those won by Obama.

The 2008 Ohio Democratic primary took place on March 4, 2008 and was open to registered Democrats and Independents. Ohio sent 141 pledged delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, which were awarded to the candidates proportionally based on the outcome of the election. In addition, Ohio's delegation included 20 unpledged superdelegates not bound by the vote. Hillary Clinton won the primary.

Delegate breakdown

The Ohio Democratic Party sent 161 total delegates to the National Convention. Of those delegates, 141 were pledged and 20 unpledged. The 141 pledged delegates were allocated (pledged) to vote for a particular candidate at the National Convention according to the results of Ohio's Democratic primary on March 4, 2008. The 20 unpledged delegates (popularly called "superdelegates" because each of their votes represented a personal decision rather than the decision of the voters) were free to vote for any candidate at the National Convention and were selected by the Ohio Democratic Party's officials.

The 141 pledged delegates were further divided into 92 district delegates and 49 state-wide delegates. The 92 district delegates were divided among Ohio's 18 Congressional Districts and were allocated to the presidential candidates based on the primary results in each District. The 49 state-wide delegates were divided into 31 at-large delegates and 18 Party Leaders and Elected Officials (abbreviated PLEO). They were allocated to the presidential candidates based on the primary results state-wide.

Of the 20 unpledged delegates, 18 were selected in advance and 2 were selected at the State Executive Committee meeting on May 10, 2008. The delegates selected in advance were 9 Democratic National Committee members, the 7 Democratic U.S. Representatives from Ohio (including 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, who had suspended his campaign before the Ohio primary), U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, and Governor Ted Strickland.^[1][2] Just before the election, nine of Ohio's 20 superdelegates had endorsed a candidate: five had announced support for Senator Clinton and four had committed to Senator Barack Obama.^[3]

Polling

Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the March Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2008#Ohio

Debate

Clinton and Obama appeared in a televised debate at Cleveland State University on February 26. They discussed negative campaigning, health care and free trade.^[4] Clinton echoed a theme her campaign had emphasized over the past days, that media coverage of her was much tougher than coverage of Obama, by referring to a Saturday Night Live skit that made a similar point from the weekend before.^[5]

Results

See also: Results of the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries

Key:	Withdrew prior to contest

Ohio Democratic presidential primary, 2008[6]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates[2]
Hillary Clinton	1,259,620	53.49%	74
Barack Obama	1,055,769	44.84%	67
John Edwards	39,332	1.67%	0
Totals	2,233,156	100.00%	141

See also

• Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
• Ohio Republican primary, 2008

References

1. ^ "2008 Ohio Delegate Selection Plan" (PDF). Ohio Democratic Party. 2007-10-05. Archived from the original on 2008-02-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20080227204652/http://www.ohiodems.org/atf/cf/%7bC0255BB1-6F9F-40DE-AE31-2B58D7FD0F7A%7d/DEL2008.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-29. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Berg-Andersson, Richard (2008-03-05). "Ohio Democrat Presidential Nominating Process". The Green Papers. http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/OH-D.phtml. Retrieved 2008-03-05. 
3. ^ "CQ Politics Primary Guide". CQ Politics. http://innovation.cq.com/primaries?tab=2. Retrieved 2008-02-20. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Clinton, Obama clash over campaign tactics in debate". CNN. 2008-02-27. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/26/dems.debate/index.html. Retrieved 2008-02-27. 
5. ^ Alessandra Stanley (2008-02-27). "20th Debate: Reality Show or a Spinoff?". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/us/politics/27watch.html. 
6. ^ "Democratic Presidential - District Totals". OH Secretary of State. 2008-05-09. http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/ElectionsVoter/Results2008.aspx?Section=3520. Retrieved 2008-05-09.