Pennsylvania Republican primary, 2008

The 2008 Pennsylvania Republican primary was an election held on April 22 by the Pennsylvania Department of State in which voters choose their preference for the Republican Party's candidate for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Voters also choose the Pennsylvania Republican Party's candidates for various state and local offices. The selected candidates are placed on the ballot of the 2008 General Election on November 4. The Republican primary is part of a General Primary that also includes the 2008 Pennsylvania Democratic primary.

Polls opened at 7:00 am and closed at 8:00 pm. John McCain, the Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, is the winner.

Campaigning

Unlike on the Democratic side, little campaigning took place as John McCain had already clinched the nomination. Ron Paul made several stops in the state, including his birth place of Pittsburgh.

Results

*Delegates are essentially unpledged in the Pennsylvania Republican primary.

Some media sources have noted that Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee combined took in around 220,000 votes (about 27% of the vote total), despite McCain's status as presumptive nominee and the statistical irrelevance of Pennsylvania and the other the remaining Republican primaries, as a possible sign of continuing social conservative or libertarian unease with McCain's nomination and have speculated about whether these results could potentially affect McCain in the November general election. Although some strategists have disputed this theory, pointing to low turnout among McCain supporters and arguing that primary results may not impact on November. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/opinion/27rich.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin] [http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20080423/cm_thenation/45314454] [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/04/24/pa_vote_hints_republicans_divided_in_support_for_mccain/]

ee also

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

References