Vermont Democratic primary, 2008

The 2008 Vermont Democratic primary took place on March 4, 2008. It was an open primary. There are 15 delegates which were awarded on a proportional basis and 8 "superdelegates."

Delegate breakdown

The Vermont Democratic Party sends 23 total delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Of those delegates, 15 are pledged and 8 are unpledged. The 15 pledged delegates are 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 vote represents the decision of a single person rather than the regular delegate's vote representing the collective decision of many voters) are free to vote for any candidate at the National Convention and are selected by the Vermont Democratic Party's officials.

The 15 pledged delegates are further divided into 10 district delegates and 5 state-wide delegates. The 10 district delegates represent Vermont's single Congressional District. The 5 state-wide delegates are 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 is selected at the Vermont Democratic Party's National Convention Delegate Meeting on June 7. The delegates selected in advance are 5 Democratic National Committee members, Democratic U.S. Representative from Vermont Peter Welch, and Democratic U.S. Senator from Vermont Patrick Leahy.cite web |title=Vermont Delegate Selection Plan For The 2008 Democratic National Convention |publisher=Vermont Democratic Party |date=2007-05-19 |url=http://vtdems.3cdn.net/8da226d5eceb43e96c_2km6b9p2y.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=2008-02-29] cite web |title=Vermont Democrat Presidential Nominating Process |publisher=The Green Papers |date=2008-02-16 |url=http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/VT-D.phtml |accessdate=2008-02-29]

Delegate selection process

The Vermont Democratic Party uses 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 is used for allocation of delegates, the delegates themselves are selected in a caucus process. On March 22, the Party holds a series of town-level caucuses to select its first tier of delegates. On May 24, the Party holds its state convention in which the town-level delegates select the 10 district-level delegates that will attend the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The remaining 5 pledged delegates plus an unpledged delegate are selected at the Vermont Democratic Party's National Convention Delegate Meeting on June 7.

Polls

As of 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. [cite web |url=http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/vermont/vermont_democratic_presidential_primary |title=Vermont Democratic Presidential Primary |work=Rasmussenreports.com |date=2008-02-24 |accessdate=2008-03-03] [ [http://www.pollster.com/08-VT-Dem-Pres-Primary.php 2008 Vermont Democratic Presidential Primary] ]

Results

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; font-size: 95%; text-align:right;"
-bgcolor="#EEEEEE" align="center"! colspan="4" | Vermont Democratic presidential primary, 2008 [cite web |url=http://vermont-elections.org/elections1/2008PresPrimaryCanvass3.11.08.doc |title=Official Report of the Canvassing Committee |publisher=Secretary of State of Vermont |format=DOC |date=2008-03-11 |accessdate=2008-03-18]
-bgcolor="#EEEEEE" align="center"! style="width: 17em"|Candidate! style="width: 5em"|Votes! style="width: 7em"|Percentage! style="width: 5em"|Delegates
-
align="left"| Barack Obama
91,901
59.31%
9
-
align="left"| Hillary Clinton
59,806
38.59%
6
-bgcolor=#FFE8E8
align="left"| "John Edwards"
"1,936"
"1.25%"
"0"
-bgcolor=#FFE8E8
align="left"| "Dennis Kucinich"
"1,010"
"0.65%"
"0"
-
align="left"| Write-in candidates
307
0.20%
0
-bgcolor="#EEEEEE" style="margin-right:0.5em"
Totals
154,960
100.00%
15

See also

* Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
* Vermont Republican primary, 2008

References