View source for 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries

{{Short description|Selection of the Democratic Party nominee}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries
| country = United States
| type = primary
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries
| previous_year = 2004
| election_date = January 3 to June 3, 2008
| next_election = 2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries
| next_year = 2012
| votes_for_election = 4,233 delegates to the [[2008 Democratic National Convention|Democratic National Convention]]
| needed_votes = 2,117 (majority)
| image1 = [[File:Barack Obama Senate portrait crop.jpg|x160px]]
| colour1 = 800080
| candidate1 = '''[[Barack Obama]]'''
| home_state1 = [[Illinois]]
| delegate_count1 = '''2,272.5'''
| states_carried1 = '''33'''
| popular_vote1 = '''17,535,458'''<ref name="realclearpolitics">{{cite web|url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html |title=2008 Democratic Popular Vote |publisher=[[RealClearPolitics]] |access-date=February 15, 2020}}</ref>{{efn|name=popularvote|This figure does not include the states of Iowa, Nevada, Washington and Maine who did not release popular vote information. The political news and polling data aggregator website [[RealClearPolitics]] estimated that the results of the caucuses would have increased Obama's total vote to 17,869,542 and Clinton's to 17,717,698.<ref name="realclearpolitics"/> The [[Democratic National Committee]] (DNC) did not recognize primary results in Michigan, due to the state moving the date of their primary to January. Due to the lack of DNC recognition, Obama and several other candidates withdrew their names from the ballot whereas Clinton did not. The results of the Michigan primary were as thus: Uncommitted: 238,168; Clinton: 328,309. If the Michigan tally had been made official, the overall popular vote would be 17,535,458 for Obama and 17,822,145 for Clinton. With the caucuses estimates included the overall tally would be 17,869,542 and 18,046,007 respectively.<ref name="realclearpolitics"/><ref name="Coomarasamy">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7429706.stm | work=BBC News | title=Equal split masks Obama victory | date=June 1, 2008 | access-date=May 1, 2010 | first=Jamie | last=Coomarasamy}}</ref>}}
| percentage1 = '''48.1%'''<ref name="realclearpolitics"/>
| image2 = [[File:Hillary Rodham Clinton-cropped 2 (cropped).jpg|x160px]]
| candidate2 = [[Hillary Clinton]]
| colour2 = D4AA00
| home_state2 = [[New York (state)|New York]]
| popular_vote2 = 17,493,836<ref name="realclearpolitics"/>{{efn|name=popularvote}}
| percentage2 = 48.0%<ref name="realclearpolitics"/>
| states_carried2 = 23
| delegate_count2 = 1,978
| map_image = {{switcher
| {{2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries imagemap}}
| First place by first-instance vote
| [[File:HillaryObamaPrimaries2008PopularVote.svg|350px]]
| Popular vote margins
| default=1
}}
| map_size = 350px
| map_caption = '''First place by first-instance vote'''
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-2}}
{{legend|#800080|Barack Obama (33) |border=1}}
{{legend|#D4AA00|Hillary Clinton (23) |border=1}}
{{align|center|'''Popular vote margins'''}}
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}
'''Clinton'''
{{legend|#fbdc8b|0–10%}}
{{legend|#ffd367|10–20%}}
{{legend|#f7ae44|20–30%}}
{{legend|#b47d2a|30–85%}}
{{col-2}}
'''Obama'''
{{legend|#be96ca|0–10%}}
{{legend|#b662ca|10–20%}}
{{legend|#853197|20–30%}}
{{legend|#580065|30–85%}}
{{col-end}} (popular vote winners and delegate winners differ in five contests: [[2008 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary|NH]], [[2008 Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses|NV]], [[2008 Missouri Democratic presidential primary|MO]], [[2008 Texas Democratic presidential primary and caucuses|TX]], [[2008 Guam Democratic territorial convention|GU]])
{{Col-end}}
| map2_image = 
| map2_size = 350px
| map2_caption = '''Popular vote margins'''
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}
'''Clinton'''
{{legend|#fbdc8b|0–10%}}
{{legend|#ffd367|10–20%}}
{{legend|#f7ae44|20–30%}}
{{legend|#b47d2a|30–85%}}
{{col-2}}
'''Obama'''
{{legend|#be96ca|0–10%}}
{{legend|#b662ca|10–20%}}
{{legend|#853197|20–30%}}
{{legend|#580065|30–85%}}
{{col-end}} (popular vote winners and delegate winners differ in five contests: [[2008 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary|NH]], [[2008 Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses|NV]], [[2008 Missouri Democratic presidential primary|MO]], [[2008 Texas Democratic presidential primary and caucuses|TX]], and [[2008 Guam Democratic territorial convention|GU]])
| title = Democratic nominee
| before_election = [[John Kerry]]
| after_election = [[Barack Obama]]
}}
{{US 2008 presidential elections series}}
{{Barack Obama series}}
{{Hillary Clinton series}}
{{Joe Biden series}}

From January 3 to June 3, 2008, voters of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] chose their nominee for [[President of the United States|president]] in the [[2008 United States presidential election]]. [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[Barack Obama]] of [[Illinois]] was selected as the nominee, becoming the [[List of African-American firsts|first African American]] to secure the presidential nomination of any major political party in the United States. However, due to a close race between Obama and Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] of [[New York (state)|New York]], the contest remained competitive for longer than expected; neither candidate received enough pledged delegates from state primaries and caucuses to achieve a majority, without endorsements from unpledged delegates ([[superdelegate]]s).

The presidential primaries actually consisted of both [[Partisan primary|primary election]]s and [[caucus]]es, depending upon what the individual [[U.S. state|state]] chose. The goal of the process was to elect the majority of the 4,233 [[Delegate (American politics)|delegate]]s to the [[2008 Democratic National Convention]], which was held from Monday, August 25, through Thursday, August 28, 2008, in [[Denver]], [[Colorado]]. To secure the nomination, a candidate needed to receive at least 2,117 votes at the convention—or a simple majority of the 4,233 delegate votes. This total included half-votes from [[American Samoa]], [[Guam]], the [[United States Virgin Islands]], in addition to [[Democrats Abroad]], as well as '[[superdelegates]]'—party leaders and elected officials who were not chosen through a primary or caucus. The race was further complicated by a controversy over the scheduling of the [[Michigan]] and [[Florida]] state primaries, which had been scheduled earlier than party rules permitted, affecting the number of delegates that those states sent to the national convention.

The popular vote tally from most news organizations did not include the states of Iowa, Maine, Nevada and Washington, as these states did not release the results of the popular vote from their caucuses. The media reports did include Florida, which neither Clinton nor Obama contested, as well as Michigan. Both states were penalized by the [[Democratic National Committee]] (DNC) for violating party rules. Michigan proved a source of controversy due to the change in the date of the primary election. Consequently, Obama and other candidates removed their names from the ballot yet Clinton did not. The DNC did not count the popular vote from Michigan, and evenly split the state's delegates between Clinton and Obama. As a result, without the Michigan vote, Obama won the popular vote; whereas with the votes from Michigan, Clinton won the popular vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html |title=Democratic Vote Count |publisher=Real Clear Politics |date=January 29, 2008 |access-date=March 7, 2012}}</ref> Nevertheless, regardless of how votes were counted, the candidates' totals were within less than one percent of each other.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.factcheck.org/2008/06/clinton-and-the-popular-vote/ |title=Clinton and the Popular Vote |publisher=FactCheck.org |date=June 5, 2008 |access-date=May 13, 2016}}</ref>

Obama received enough superdelegate endorsements on June 3 to claim that he had secured the simple majority of delegates necessary to win the nomination, before Clinton conceded the nomination four days later.<ref>{{cite news | last=Weisman | first=Jonathan | title=Strategy Was Based On Winning Delegates, Not Battlegrounds | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/03/AR2008060304268.html | newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 4, 2008 |access-date=June 4, 2008|display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Nedra |last=Pickler |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/24/ap-obamas-political-team_n_103396.html |title=AP: Obama's Political Team Out-Organized Clinton |work=The Huffington Post |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |access-date=March 7, 2012 |date=May 24, 2008}}</ref> Obama was nominated on the first ballot, at the August convention. He went on to win the general election, and became the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009. Clinton went on to serve as Obama's [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] for his first term as president, and the Democratic nominee for president in 2016, losing to [[Donald Trump]].

These primaries included the nominees for the next three elections- Obama again in [[Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign|2012]], Clinton in [[Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign|2016]], and Biden in [[Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign|2020]].
__TOC__

== Candidates and results ==
{{Main|2008 Democratic Party presidential candidates|Results of the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries}}

<!-- Improve the quality of this article greatly by adding the popular vote
totals and percentage in each state for at least the two leading candidates. -->

'''Notes for the following table:'''
* Delegate counts:
** The pledged delegate estimates come from the sum of the ''Current estimate'' columns for the states listed in the ''[[#Chronicle|Chronicle]]'' section later in this article
** The source for [[#Superdelegates|superdelegate]] estimates is the 2008 Democratic Convention Watch blog. Superdelegate endorsements were frozen on June 7, the date of Clinton's concession speech.<ref name="DemConWatch_Tally"/>
* Ordering:
** The candidates are ordered by pledged delegate count and then alphabetically by last name
** To re-sort this table, click on the double-arrow symbol ([[File:Sort both.gif]]) at the top of a column

=== Nominee ===
{| class="sortable wikitable" style="margin-left:0.5em; text-align:center"
|-
! colspan=2 |Candidate
! class="unsortable" |Most recent office held<br />at the end of the primaries
!Home State
! Pledged delegate<br />vote estimate<ref name="pledgedsumsource">The pledged delegate estimates come from the sum of the states listed in the [[#Chronicle|Chronicle]] section in this article.</ref>
! Superdelegate<br />vote estimate<ref name="DemConWatch_Tally">{{cite web|title=2008 Democratic Convention Watch|url=http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/06/superdelegate-endorsements-for-friday.html |date=June 6, 2008 |access-date=June 7, 2008}}</ref>
! Total delegate<br />vote estimate
! Campaign status
! Running mate
|- style="background:#f2e6ff;"
|[[File:Obama portrait crop.jpg|130px|Barack Obama]]<br />'''<span style="display:none">Obama, Barack</span><big>[[Barack Obama]]</big>'''
| style="background:#800080;" |
|'''[[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from<br>[[Illinois]]'''<br />(2005–2008)
|[[File:Flag_map_of_Illinois.svg|110x110px]][[Illinois]]
|'''1,794½'''<br /><small>51%</small>
|'''478'''<br /><small>66%</small>
|'''2,272½'''<br /><small>53%</small>
| [[File:Barack Obama primary campaign logo 2008.svg|140x140px]]<br><small>([[Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign|Campaign]])</small><br />'''Secured nomination:<br /> June 3, 2008''' 
|[[Joe Biden]]
|}

=== Withdrew during the primaries ===
{| class="sortable wikitable" style="margin-left:0.5em; text-align:center"
|-
! colspan=2 |Candidate
! class="unsortable" |Most recent office held<br />at the end of the primaries
!Home State
! Pledged delegate<br />vote estimate<ref name="pledgedsumsource">The pledged delegate estimates come from the sum of the states listed in the [[#Chronicle|Chronicle]] section in this article.</ref>
! Superdelegate<br />vote estimate<ref name="DemConWatch_Tally"/>
! Total delegate<br />vote estimate
! Campaign status
|-
|[[File:Hillary Rodham Clinton-cropped.jpg|150x150px|Hillary Clinton]]<br />'''<span style="display:none">Clinton, Hillary</span><big>[[Hillary Clinton]]</big>'''
| style="background:#D4AA00;" |
|'''[[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[New York (state)|New York]]'''<br />(2001–2009)
|[[File:Flag-map of New York.svg|100x100px]]<br>[[New York (state)|New York]]
|1,731½<br /><small>49%</small>
|246½<br /><small>34%</small>
|1,978<br /><small>46%</small>
|[[File:Hillary Clinton presidential campaign logo, 2008.svg|138x138px]]<br><small>([[Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential campaign|Campaign]])</small><br><small>(Endorsed Obama, later became Secretary of State)<ref>{{cite news |title=Clinton to suspend campaign Saturday |work=NBC News |date=June 4, 2008 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24974674 |access-date=June 4, 2008}}</ref></small>
|-
|[[File:John Edwards, official Senate photo portrait.jpg|150x150px|John Edwards]]<br />'''<span style="display:none">Edwards, John</span><big>[[John Edwards]]</big>'''
| style="background:#ff7f2a;" |
|&nbsp;'''[[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[North Carolina]]'''&nbsp;<br />(1999–2005)
| [[File:Flag-map of North Carolina.svg|100px]] [[North Carolina]]
|14½<br /><small><1%</small>
|0<br /><small>&nbsp;</small>
|14½<br /><small>1%</small>
|[[File:John Edwards Campaign Logo.svg|140x140px]]<br><small>([[John Edwards 2008 presidential campaign|Campaign]])</small><br><small>'''Withdrew:''' January 30, 2008</small><br><small>(Endorsed Obama)<ref>{{cite news |title=Clinton to suspend her campaign on Saturday |work=CNN |date=May 14, 2008 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/14/edwards.obama/ |access-date=May 14, 2008}}</ref></small>
|-
| colspan="2" |[[File:Joe Biden, official photo portrait 2-cropped.jpg|150x150px|Joe Biden]]<br />'''<span style="display:none">Biden, Joe</span><big>[[Joe Biden]]</big>'''
|'''[[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Delaware]]'''<br />(1973–2009)
|[[File:Flag-map of Delaware.svg|x100px]]
[[Delaware]]
|0
|0
|0
|[[File:Joe Biden Presidential Campaign Logo 08.svg|140x140px]]<br><small>([[Joe Biden 2008 presidential campaign|Campaign]])</small><br><small>'''Withdrew:''' January 3, 2008</small><br /><small>(Endorsed Obama, who later [[2008 Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection|chose]] Biden as his [[Vice President of the United States|vice presidential]] running mate)</small>
|-
| colspan="2" |[[File:Bill Richardson at an event in Kensington, New Hampshire, March 18, 2006.jpg|150x150px|Bill Richardson]]<br />'''<span style="display:none">Richardson, Bill</span><big>[[Bill Richardson]]</big>'''
|'''[[Governor of New Mexico]]'''<br/>(2003–2011)
|[[File:Flag-map of New Mexico.svg|100x100px]] 
[[New Mexico]]
|0
|0
|0
|[[File:Bill Richardson 2008 campaign logo.svg|140x140px]]<br><small>([[Bill Richardson 2008 presidential campaign|Campaign]])</small><br><small>'''Withdrew:''' January 10, 2008</small><br /><small>(Endorsed Obama)</small>
|-
| colspan="2" |[[File:SenatorBayh (1).jpg|150x150px|Evan Bayh]]<br/>'''<span style="display:none">Bayh, Evan</span><big>[[Evan Bayh]]</big> '''
|'''[[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Indiana (state)|Indiana]]'''<br />(1999–2011)
|[[File:Flag map of Indiana.svg|100x100px]] 
[[Indiana (state)|Indiana]]
|0
|0
|0
|[[File:EvanBayh.jpg|140x140px]]<br><small>([[Evan Bayh 2008 presidential campaign|Campaign]])</small><br><small>'''Withdrew:''' December 16, 2006</small><br><small>(Endorsed Clinton, then Obama)</small>
|-
| colspan="2" |[[File:Christopher Dodd official portrait 2-cropped.jpg|150x150px|Chris Dodd]]<br />'''<span style="display:none">Dodd, Christopher</span><big>[[Chris Dodd]]</big>'''
|'''[[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Connecticut]]'''<br />(1981–2011)
|[[File:Flag-map of Connecticut.svg|100px]]
[[Connecticut]]
|0
|0
|0
|<small>[[File:Chris Dodd 2008 campaign logo.svg|140x140px]]<br>([[Chris Dodd 2008 presidential campaign|Campaign]])</small><br><small>'''Withdrew:''' January 3, 2008</small><br /><small>(Endorsed Obama)</small>
|-
| colspan="2" |[[File:Mike Gravel.jpg|150x150px|Mike Gravel]]<br />'''<span style="display:none">Gravel, Mike</span><big>[[Mike Gravel]]</big>'''
|'''[[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Alaska]]'''<br />(1969–1981)
|[[File:Flag map of Alaska.svg|100px]]
[[Alaska]]
|0
|0
|0
|[[File:Mike Gravel 2008 campaign bumper sticker.svg|140x140px]]<br><small>([[Mike Gravel 2008 presidential campaign|Campaign]])</small><br><small>'''Withdrew:''' March 26, 2008</small><br><small>(Endorsed [[Jesse Johnson (West Virginia politician)|Jesse Johnson]] for [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]] nomination)</small>
|-
| colspan="2" |[[File:Dennis Kucinich.jpg|150x150px|Dennis Kucinich]]<br />'''<span style="display:none">Kucinich, Dennis</span><big>[[Dennis Kucinich]]</big>'''
|'''[[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]]<br /> for [[Ohio's 10th congressional district|Ohio's 10th]]'''<br />(1997–2013)
|[[File:Flag Map of Ohio.svg|100x100px]]
[[Ohio]]
|0
|0
|0
|[[File:Dennis Kucinich for President 2008.svg|140x140px]]<br><small>([[Dennis Kucinich 2008 presidential campaign|Campaign]])</small><br><small>'''Withdrew:''' January 23, 2008</small><br><small>(Endorsed Obama)</small>
|-
| colspan="2" |[[File:Announcement on International Commitment to Fight Global Hunger and Poverty, 4-22-10 (4545432701) (cropped).jpg|150x150px|Tom Vilsack]]<br/>'''<span style="display:none">Vilsack, Tom</span><big>[[Tom Vilsack]]</big> '''
|'''[[Governor of Iowa]]'''
(1999–2007)
|[[File:Flag-map of Iowa.svg|100px]]
[[Iowa]]
|0
|0
|0
|[[File:Tom Vilsack 2008 campaign logo.svg|135x135px]]<br><small>([[Tom Vilsack 2008 presidential campaign|Campaign]])</small><br><small>'''Withdrew:''' February 23, 2007</small><br><small>(Endorsed Clinton)</small>
|-
|}

=== Declined to run ===
* [[Wesley Clark]], former commander of [[NATO]] and presidential candidate in 2004.
* [[Tom Daschle]], former U.S. senator of [[South Dakota]].
* [[Howard Dean]], former governor of [[Vermont]] and chair of the [[Democratic National Committee]].
* [[Russ Feingold]], U.S. senator of [[Wisconsin]].
* [[Al Gore]], former Vice President of the United States and the Democratic presidential nominee in 2000.
* [[John Kerry]], U.S. senator of [[Massachusetts]] and the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004.
* [[Al Sharpton]], civil rights activist and candidate for the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] in 1992 and 1994.
* [[Mark Warner]], former governor of [[Virginia]].

== Delegate system ==
Delegates are the people who decided the nomination at the [[2008 Democratic National Convention|Democratic National Convention]]. Delegates from fifty [[US states]], the [[District of Columbia]], and [[Puerto Rico]] had a single vote each, while delegates from [[American Samoa]], the [[United States Virgin Islands|Virgin Islands]], [[Guam]] and [[Democrats Abroad]], as well as the states of [[2008 Florida Democratic presidential primary|Florida]] and [[2008 Michigan Democratic presidential primary|Michigan]], which contravened the schedule, had half a vote each. Thus, the total number of delegates was slightly higher than the total number of available delegate votes (4,049).<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/D-Alloc.phtml#Terr |title=Democratic Delegate Allocation – 2008 |access-date=March 14, 2008}}</ref> This is now updated to 4,233 with FL-MI delegations.

=== Pledged delegates ===
In the modern [[United States presidential primary|presidential primary system]], candidates for the nomination campaign in a series of primary elections and caucus events. For the Democratic Party, the results from these primaries and caucuses determine the number of ''pledged delegates'' committed to vote for each candidate at the [[Democratic National Convention]], intended to reflect the will of the voters. These delegates are not legally bound to vote for the candidate they represent, but candidates may remove delegates whom they feel may be disloyal, and delegates generally vote as pledged.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/02/delegate.explainer/index.html |title=Why delegates matter in the presidential race |work=CNN | date=January 3, 2008 | access-date=May 1, 2010}}</ref> Under the party's ''Delegate Selection Rules for the 2008 Democratic National Convention'', delegates were allocated to each of the fifty U.S. states according to two main criteria: the proportion of votes each state had given to the Democratic candidate in the previous three presidential elections, and the percentage of votes each state had in the [[United States Electoral College]]. In addition, fixed numbers of delegates were allocated to the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and [[Democrats Abroad]].<ref name="Dem rules">{{cite web|publisher=[[Democratic National Committee]] |title=Delegate Selection Rules for the 2008 Democratic National Convention |date=August 19, 2006 |url=http://www.democrats.org/page/-/dem_convention/rules.pdf |access-date=January 21, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006191218/http://www.democrats.org/page/-/dem_convention/rules.pdf |archive-date=October 6, 2010 }}</ref> In 2008, a total of 3,253 pledged delegate votes would be awarded through the primaries and caucuses.

=== Superdelegates ===
{{Main|List of superdelegates at the 2008 Democratic National Convention}}

[[Superdelegate]] votes are given equal weight to the votes of pledged delegates. Superdelegates are members of the [[United States House of Representatives]] and [[United States Senate|Senate]], state and territorial [[List of current United States Governors|governors]], members of the [[Democratic National Committee]], distinguished party leaders, and add-on delegates selected by the [[Democratic Party (United States)#State and territorial parties|state parties]]. They represented almost 20 percent <!-- 19.45% --> of the total 4,233 delegates.

The number and composition of superdelegates had the potential to change right up to the start of the Democratic National Convention. The total number of superdelegate votes at the start of the primary season in October 2007 stood at 850. Various events such as deaths, elections, and disqualifications may alter the final number of superdelegates voting in the primary.

While officially uncommitted until the convention, the superdelegates may publicly endorse or commit to a candidate at any time. The presidential candidates compete heavily for these commitments. News organizations survey the superdelegates periodically throughout the election season and try to calculate how many have committed to each of the candidates. The media often include these superdelegate estimates in their reporting on the race, leading to differing delegate counts from various news sources.

=== Delegate selection rules ===
[[File:43rd Legislative District Democratic Caucus 1.jpg|thumb|right|Washington Democrats meet in the legislative district caucuses.]]

Under the Democratic Party's ''Delegate Selection Rules for the 2008 Democratic National Convention'',<ref name="Dem rules"/> delegates are awarded by [[proportional representation]], with a minimum 15 percent threshold required to receive delegates. Each state party is required to publish its own state level delegate selection plan, indicating how the state will select delegates at the congressional and statewide level, how the delegation will implement the party's [[affirmative action]] policy, and how the delegation will ensure an equal balance between women and men. Those plans were adopted at state conventions and forwarded to the national party in mid-2007.

In most state caucuses, the viability threshold must be met at each level in the process, from the precinct level upwards. This puts enormous pressure on the remaining candidates to gain the support of voters whose chosen candidates fall below the 15 percent mark.<ref>{{cite web |title=FAQ's |publisher=Nevada State Democratic Party |url=http://www.nvdemscaucus.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=13&Itemid=30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080123201111/http://www.nvdemscaucus.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=13&Itemid=30 |archive-date=January 23, 2008 }} See also: {{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703085604/http://www.iowafirstcaucus.org/faqs.php |archive-date=July 3, 2007 |url=http://www.iowafirstcaucus.org/faqs.php |title=Iowa Democratic Party Precinct Caucus Fact Sheet |publisher=[[Iowa Democratic Party]] }}</ref> The focus on viability is designed to weed out small, divisive factions from gaining delegates to disrupt the national convention. However, this can result in candidates gaining viability in some precincts but not in others, and a complicated "caucus math" is required to allocate delegates to the county and state conventions for each precinct.<ref>{{cite news |title=So why DO we caucus, anyway? |first=Ed |last=Tibbetts |work=[[Quad-City Times]] |date=December 15, 2007 |url=http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/15/news/local/doc4764bb64e0b44787047257.txt }}</ref> In the primaries, the viability threshold is set based on statewide and congressional district votes. At-large and PLEO (Party Leaders and Elected Officials) delegates are allocated based on statewide votes, while district-level delegates are allocated by district votes.<ref name="Dem rules"/>

==Opinion polling==
{{See also|Nationwide opinion polling for the Democratic Party 2008 presidential candidates}}<br />
[[File:2008 Democratic primaries polling.png|thumb|900x900px|alt=|center|Opinion polling for the 2008 Democratic presidential primary (moving average is calculated from the last ten polls){{columns-list|colwidth=18em|
 {{Legend-line|#800080 solid 5px|Obama}}
 {{Legend-line|#D4AA00 solid 5px|Clinton}}
 {{Legend-line|#ff7f2a solid 5px|Edwards}}
 {{Legend-line|#00FF00 solid 5px|Richardson}}
 {{Legend-line|#224192 solid 5px|Biden}}
 {{Legend-line|#FF97FF solid 5px|Kucinich}}
 {{Legend-line|#C00000 solid 5px|Dodd}}
 {{Legend-line|#EDD81E solid 5px|Gravel}}
}}]]

== Campaign ==
{{See also|Results of the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries|Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign|Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential campaign|2008 Democratic Party presidential debates and forums}}

'''Notes for the tables in this section:'''
* ''Votes to the Convention'' column:
** The source for delegation sizes is the Democratic National Committee's official ''Call for the 2008 Democratic National Convention''.<ref name="Dem call">{{cite web |publisher=[[Democratic National Committee]] |title=Call for the 2008 Democratic National Convention |url=http://www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/FINAL2008CalltotheConvention.pdf |date=March 17, 2008 |access-date=March 17, 2008 |page=33 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608011743/http://www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/FINAL2008CalltotheConvention.pdf |archive-date=June 8, 2011 }}</ref> Specific sources are present for Florida and Michigan. Very recent changes not already in the official source are indicated by the footnotes.
* ''Pledged Delegate Votes Estimate'' column:
** The source is each state's primary or caucus article. Click on the ''Specific Election (link)'' column to see the sources used in those articles.
** The candidate with the highest pledged delegate vote is highlighted. In some cases, this may be different from the winner of the popular vote.

=== Early campaigning ===
[[File:Mgravelgrandpa.jpg|thumb|right|Mike Gravel at the launch of his presidential campaign in April 2006]]
The earliest significant candidate to launch their candidacy was [[Mike Gravel]] in April 2006. However, for the most part, the race for the 2008 presidential nomination did not truly begin in earnest until after the [[United States general elections, 2006|2006 midterm elections]]. Between November 2006 and February 2007, nine major candidates opened their campaigns: [[Evan Bayh 2008 presidential campaign|Evan Bayh]] as an [[exploratory committee]], [[Joe Biden 2008 presidential campaign|Joe Biden]], [[Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential campaign|Hillary Clinton]], [[Chris Dodd 2008 presidential campaign|Chris Dodd]], [[John Edwards 2008 presidential campaign|John Edwards]], [[Dennis Kucinich 2008 presidential campaign|Dennis Kucinich]], [[Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign|Barack Obama]], [[Bill Richardson 2008 presidential campaign|Bill Richardson]], and [[Tom Vilsack 2008 presidential campaign|Tom Vilsack]]. Potential candidates [[John Kerry]], [[Al Gore]], [[Russ Feingold]], [[Tom Daschle]], [[Wesley Clark]], [[Sam Nunn]], [[Mark Warner]], and [[Al Sharpton]] reportedly considered running but ultimately declined to seek the nomination. Bayh said he would not seek the nomination on December 16, 2006, and withdrew from the race. Soon Vilsack dropped out in February 2007.

During the first three months of 2007, Clinton and Obama raised over $20 million each, while Edwards raised more than $12 million.<ref>"[https://archive.today/20120715121806/http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/finance/2007/q1/ Campaign Finance: First Quarter 2007 FEC Filings]", ''The Washington Post'', 2007.</ref> The three candidates quickly became the frontrunners for the nomination,<ref>
{{cite news |first=Dan |last=Balz |title=Candidates Unite in Criticizing Bush |date=April 27, 2007 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602593.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=May 30, 2007}}</ref> a status they held all the way through the end of 2007.

On November 21, Obama announced that [[Oprah Winfrey]] would be campaigning for him in the early primary states,<ref name="OprahNYTimes">{{cite news | first=Katharine | last=Seelye | title=Oprah May Campaign for Obama | date=November 21, 2007 | url =http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/oprah-may-campaign-for-obama/ | work=The New York Times | access-date = March 21, 2008}}</ref> setting off speculation that, although celebrity endorsements typically have little effect on voter opinions, [[Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of Barack Obama|Winfrey's participation]] would supply Obama with a large, receptive audience.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS09/711270383/-1/caucus |title=Oprah to aid Obama in D.M., Cedar Rapids |work=Des Moines Register }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> As word spread that Oprah's first appearance would be in [[Iowa]], polls released in early December revealed that Obama had taken the lead in that decisive state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=104265&d=4&m=12&y=2007 |title=Hillary Loses Iowa Lead |publisher=Arabnews.com |date=December 4, 2007 |access-date=March 7, 2012}}</ref> Then, on December 8, Oprah kicked off a three-state tour supporting Obama's campaign,<ref>{{cite news| url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/oprah-in-des-moines/?hp |title=Oprah in Des Moines | work=The New York Times | first=Jeff |last=Zeleny | date=December 8, 2007 | access-date=March 23, 2008}}</ref> where she drew record-setting crowds in Iowa, New Hampshire,<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/primarysource/2007/12/oprahobama_doub.html | title=Oprah-Obama double bill largest political NH rally in recent memory | work=The Boston Globe | first=James |last=Pindell | date=December 9, 2007 | access-date=March 23, 2008}}</ref> and South Carolina, and was described as "more cogent, more effective, more convincing" than anyone on the campaign trail.<ref>{{cite web|first=Howard |last=Fineman |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/74581/page/2 |title=Fineman: Obama's Oprah Challenge – The Daily Beast |publisher=Newsweek.com |date=December 8, 2007 |access-date=March 7, 2012}}</ref> The Oprah-Obama tour dominated political news headlines<ref>{{cite news|url=http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/10/507731.aspx |title=First Thoughts: All tied up |publisher=MSNBC |first=Mark |last=Murray |date=December 10, 2007 |access-date=March 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328142649/http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/10/507731.aspx |archive-date=March 28, 2008 }}</ref> and cast doubts over Clinton's ability to recover her recently-lost lead in Iowa caucus polls.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3239382.ece | title=The Oprah Winfrey Show (and Obama was there too) | work=The Independent | date=December 10, 2007 | access-date=March 23, 2008 | location=London | archive-date=January 2, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102061157/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3239382.ece | url-status=dead }}</ref>  A poll released less than two weeks after Winfrey campaigned found that Obama had achieved more popularity in Iowa than ever recorded before.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/12/sweet_new_poll_puts_obama_in_s.html#more | work=Chicago Sun-Times | title=Sweet: New poll puts Obama in solid Iowa lead for first time. Crucial momenteum before Thursday caucus | access-date=February 21, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327185528/http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/12/sweet_new_poll_puts_obama_in_s.html#more | archive-date=March 27, 2008 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

At year's end, on December 31, Clinton held a substantial lead in superdelegates, and she was leading in the national polls with 42% of likely voters, over Obama with 23%, and Edwards with 16%.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/weekly_presidential_tracking_polling_history |title=Rasmussen Reports: Daily Presidential Tracking Polling History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305072103/http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/weekly_presidential_tracking_polling_history |archive-date=March 5, 2008 }}</ref> However, Edwards and Obama remained close in state polls for the early contests, including the Iowa caucuses, where the final polling average had Obama leading narrowly with 31%, over Clinton with 30%, Edwards with 26%, Biden with 5%, and Richardson also with 5%.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/ia/iowa_democratic_caucus-208.html |title=RealClear Politics, Final Polls, Iowa Democratic Caucus}}</ref>

=== January 2008 ===
Following tradition, the 2008 primary calendar began with the [[2008 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses|Iowa caucuses]] and the [[2008 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary|New Hampshire primary]]. The [[2008 Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses|Nevada caucuses]] and the [[2008 South Carolina Democratic presidential primary|South Carolina primary]] were the third and fourth contests sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. Under the national committee's rules, no state was allowed to hold primaries or caucuses before February 5 with the exceptions of these four states.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/08/highlights_of_t.php |publisher=The Democratic Party |title=Highlights of the 2008 Rules |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20060822232125/http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/08/highlights_of_t.php |archive-date=August 22, 2006 }}</ref> [[2008 Michigan Democratic presidential primary|Michigan]] and [[2008 Florida Democratic presidential primary|Florida]] also held early primaries. However, as the contests were unsanctioned, the results were not recognized by the national committee until a compromise was reached four months later.<ref name="Coomarasamy">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7429706.stm | work=BBC News | title=Equal split masks Obama victory | date=June 1, 2008 | access-date=May 1, 2010 | first=Jamie | last=Coomarasamy}}</ref>

The following table shows the pledged delegate votes awarded in the first four contests recognized by the DNC.
{{clear}}
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan="2" colspan="2" style="width:20em"|Details
!rowspan="2" colspan="3" style="width:20em"|Delegate votes to the convention
!colspan="7"|Pledged delegate vote count<ref name=sourcesindicated>Sources are indicated at each state's primary or caucus article, reached by following the appropriate "Election link."</ref>
|-
!colspan="3" style="width:15em"|Election result
!rowspan="2"|Change<br />notes
!colspan="3" style="width:15em"|Final estimate
|-
!style="width:6em"|Date
!Election link
!Pledged
!Super
!Total
!Obama
!Clinton
!Edwards
!Obama
!Clinton
!Edwards
|-
|January 3
|[[2008 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses|Iowa caucuses]]
|45
|12
|'''57'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|16
|15
|14
|<ref name="Iowa">Several candidates have withdrawn their nomination bids since the Iowa caucuses on January 3. At the Iowa county conventions on March 15 and the district conventions on April 26, some delegates supporting the withdrawn candidates moved their support to Obama.</ref><ref name="dcw-what-happens">{{cite web |url=http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/05/what-happens-to-edwards-delegates.html |title=2008 Democratic Convention Watch: What happens to Edwards' delegates? |publisher=Democratic Convention Watch |date=June 4, 2008 |access-date=June 4, 2008 |quote=Edwards still has 3 state-wide delegates from Iowa, which will be allocated at the Iowa State Convention on June 14. They will remain in Edwards column until then. }}</ref>
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|28
|14
|3
|-
|January 8
|[[2008 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary|New Hampshire primary]]
|22
|8
|'''30'''
|9
|9
|4
|<ref name="New Hampshire">After [[John Edwards]] withdrew from the race and subsequently endorsed [[Barack Obama]] on May 14, a delegate supporting Edwards announced an intention to support Obama at the national convention.</ref>
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|13
|9
|0
|-
|January 19
|[[2008 Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses|Nevada caucuses]]
|25
|9
|'''34'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|13
|12
|0
|<ref name="Nevada">Higher turnout from Obama supporters at the Nevada state convention on May 17 resulted in a 14–11 delegate split, in contrast to the 13-12 split predicted by the precinct caucuses on January 19. See: [http://blogs.rgj.com/inside-nevada-politics/2008/05/obama-flips-clintons-nevada-win.html Obama flips Clinton's Nevada win; captures more national delegates] {{dead link|date=October 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, Inside Nevada Politics, May 17, 2008.</ref>
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|14
|11
|0
|-
|January 26
|[[2008 South Carolina Democratic presidential primary|South Carolina primary]]
|45
|9
|'''54'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|25
|12
|8
|<ref name="South Carolina">After [[John Edwards]] withdrew from the race and subsequently endorsed [[Barack Obama]] on May 14, some delegates supporting Edwards announced their intention to support Obama at the national convention.</ref>
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|33
|12
|0
|-
| –
|'''Total'''
|'''137'''
|'''38'''
|'''175'''
|'''63'''
|'''48'''
|'''26'''
|
|'''88'''
|'''46'''
|'''3'''
|}
{{Gallery
|title=January Election Results|width=160
|height=150
|align=center
|File:IowaPresidentialPrimaryResults2008.svg|Results of Iowa's caucus
|File:2008NewHamshirePrimaries.svg|Results of New Hampshire's primary
|File:NevadaPresidentialPrimaryResults2008.svg|Results of Nevada's caucus
|File:SouthCarolinaPresidentialPrimaryResults2008.svg|Results of South Carolina's primary
}}

Obama won the Iowa caucuses with 38% of the vote, over Edwards with 30% and Clinton with 29%. His victory brought him to national prominence as many voters tuned into the race for the first time. In a speech given that evening, he defined the word "change" as the primary theme of his campaign and said, "On this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/obama_says_time.html |title=Obama says time for change has come |first= Foon |last=Rhee |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=January 3, 2008 |access-date=January 4, 2008}}</ref> The delegate count was virtually tied, but Clinton's surprising third-place finish in the popular vote damaged her image as being the "inevitable" nominee.<ref name="politico01/03/08">{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7695.html |title= Obama and Huckabee win big in Iowa |work=[[politico.com]] |first=Bill |last=Nichols |date=January 3, 2008 |access-date=January 3, 2008}}</ref> However, she remained upbeat, saying "This race begins tonight and ends when Democrats throughout America have their say. Our campaign was built for a marathon."<ref name="politico01/03/08"/> The following day, reports described "panic" among some Clinton donors,<ref name="time010508">{{cite magazine |first=Karen |last=Tumulty |url=http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1700705,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080106233924/http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1700705,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 6, 2008 |title=Clinton Machine Shaken By Setback |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=January 5, 2008 |access-date=January 5, 2008}} See also: {{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010404002.html|title=Clinton's Supporters Question Her Strategy |first=Anne E. |last=Kornblut |author2=Jonathan Weisman |author3=Paul Kane  |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 5, 2008 |access-date=January 5, 2008}}</ref> and rumors of a staff shake-up began to circulate.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/08/a_clinton_campaign_shakeup.html |title=A Clinton Campaign Shakeup? |first=Anne E. |last=Kornblut |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 8, 2008 |access-date=January 9, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523160441/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/08/a_clinton_campaign_shakeup.html |archive-date=May 23, 2011 }}</ref> Biden and Dodd both withdrew from the race.

[[File:John Edwards Dover NH Oct 14 2007 (photo by David Victor Feldman).jpg|thumb|John Edwards greets a crowd in New Hampshire.|left]]

After Obama's upset win in the Iowa caucuses, it appeared to many political observers that he would ride a wave of momentum through the New Hampshire primary and then go on to win the Democratic nomination. Eulogies were published on the Clinton campaign,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/07/AR2008010702263.html |title=A Candidacy's Prose and Cons |author=Dionne, E. J. |author-link=E. J. Dionne Jr. |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 8, 2008 |access-date=January 9, 2008}}</ref> as Obama surged to a roughly 10-point lead in the New Hampshire polls.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/nh/new_hampshire_democratic_primary-194.html|title=RealClearPolitics New Hampshire Polling Average}}</ref> However, the race turned quickly in the days before the primary, and the polls were slow to register a reversal toward Clinton. At the [[Saint Anselm College]] New Hampshire [[debate]] on January 5, 2008, Edwards sided with Obama against Clinton.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/us/politics/06dems.html |title=At Debate, Two Rivals Go After Defiant Clinton |first=Patrick |last=Healy |author2= Jeff Zelaney |work=The New York Times |date=January 6, 2008 |access-date=January 7, 2008}}</ref> In one noted exchange, Edwards said that Clinton could not bring about change, while he and Obama could, saying "Any time you speak out powerfully for change, the forces for status quo attack." Clinton passionately retorted, saying, "Making change is not about what you believe; it's not about a speech you make. It's about working hard. I'm not just running on a promise for change. I'm running on 35 years of change. What we need is somebody who can deliver change. We don't need to be raising false hopes."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/01/edwards-he-obam.html |title=Edwards: He & Obama share a 'conviction alliance' |work=[[USA Today]] |date=January 6, 2008 |first=Mark |last=Memmott |author2= Jill Lawrence |access-date=January 6, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117032103/http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/01/edwards-he-obam.html |archive-date=January 17, 2008 }}</ref> It came to be seen as the defining statement for her candidacy.

The morning before the primary, Clinton became "visibly emotional" in response to a friendly question from a voter.<ref name="CNN20080107">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/07/clinton.emotional/index.html#cnnSTCText |title=Clinton chokes up, is applauded, at campaign stop |work=CNN |date=January 7, 2008 |access-date=January 7, 2008}}</ref> Video of the moment was replayed on [[cable news]] television throughout the day, accompanied by [[Pundit (expert)|pundit]] commentary that ranged from sympathetic to callous in tone. Voters rallied to Clinton's defense, and she won a surprising 3% victory over Obama in the popular vote. They tied in the delegate count. Richardson withdrew from the race on January 10.
Momentum shifted in Clinton's favor, and she won the popular vote in the Nevada caucuses eleven days later, despite Obama's endorsement from the influential [[Culinary Workers Union]]. However, Obama ran strongly in rural areas throughout the state, and he beat Clinton in the delegate count. Edwards' support collapsed in Nevada, as voters coalesced around the two apparent frontrunners. Dennis Kucinich withdrew from the race. In the following week, issues regarding [[Race in the United States|race]] came to the fore as campaigning began for the South Carolina primary, the first to feature a large proportion of [[African American]]s in the Democratic electorate. Behind in the state polls, Clinton left to campaign in some [[Super Tuesday, 2008|Super Tuesday]] states,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-south-carolina|title=Hillary Clinton Bill Clinton South Carolina | work=Huffington Post}}</ref> while her husband, former president [[Bill Clinton]], stayed in South Carolina and engaged in a series of exchanges with Obama.<ref>[citation needed]</ref> [[CBS News]] reported, "By injecting himself into the Democratic primary campaign with a series of inflammatory and negative statements, Bill Clinton may have helped his wife's presidential hopes in the long term but at the cost of his reputation with a group of voters [African Americans] that have long been one of his strongest bases of political support."<ref name = cbs-vv-2008-01>{{Cite news| url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/analysis-bill-clintons-lost-legacy/| title = Analysis: Bill Clinton's Lost Legacy| work = [[CBS News]]| last = Ververs| first = Vaughn| date = January 26, 2008| publisher = CBS Interactive Inc.| location = San Francisco, CA| access-date = April 19, 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140605092907/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/analysis-bill-clintons-lost-legacy/| archive-date = June 5, 2014| url-status = live}}</ref>

Obama won by a more than two-to-one margin over Clinton, gaining 55% of the vote to her 27% and Edwards's 18%.<ref name="cnn012608">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/26/sc.primary/index.html |title=Obama claims big win in South Carolina |work=CNN |date=January 26, 2008 |access-date=January 26, 2008}}</ref> On the day of the primary, Bill Clinton compared Obama's expected win to [[Jesse Jackson]]'s victory in the [[1988 Democratic Party presidential primaries|1988 South Carolina Democratic primary]]. His comments were widely criticized as an apparent attempt to dismiss the primary results and marginalize Obama by implying that he was "the black candidate."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/01/bubba-obama-is.html |title=Bubba: Obama is like Jesse Jackson |work=[[ABCNews.com]] |date=January 26, 2008 |access-date=March 10, 2008}}</ref> The momentum generated by Obama's larger-than-expected win in South Carolina was deflated somewhat by the win Clinton claimed in the nullified Florida primary the following week. Edwards suspended his candidacy on January 30. He did not immediately endorse either Clinton or Obama, but he said they both had pledged to carry forward his central campaign theme of ending poverty in America. Neither Clinton nor Obama had a clear advantage heading into the February 5 Super Tuesday primaries, with 23 states and territories and 1,681 delegates at stake and more media attention than any primary election day in American history.

=== Disputed primaries ===
{{Main|2008 Florida Democratic presidential primary|2008 Michigan Democratic presidential primary}}

In August 2006, the Democratic National Committee adopted a proposal by its Rules and Bylaws Committee stating that only the four states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina would be permitted to hold primaries or caucuses before February 5, 2008.<ref name="tomasky">
{{cite news |title=A Possibly Super Problem |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21130 |first=Michael |last=Tomasky |work=[[New York Review of Books]] |access-date=March 15, 2008 |date=March 20, 2008}}</ref> In May 2007, the [[Florida Legislature]] passed a bill that moved the date of the state's primary to January 29, 2008, setting up a confrontation with the DNC.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/08/Columns/This_bill_does_a_lot_.shtml |title=This bill does a lot more than advertised |date=May 8, 2007 |access-date=March 11, 2008}}</ref> In response, the DNC ruled that Florida's 185&nbsp;pledged delegates and 26&nbsp;superdelegates would not be seated at the Democratic National Convention, or, if seated, would not be able to vote.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2007/06/democrats-still.html |title=Orlando Sentinel Blogs |access-date=July 24, 2007 |date=July 21, 2007 |work=[[Orlando Sentinel]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071029035430/http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2007/06/democrats-still.html |archive-date=October 29, 2007 }}</ref> In October 2007, Democrats from Florida's [[United States congressional delegations from Florida|congressional delegation]] filed a federal lawsuit against the DNC to force a recognition of its delegates, but the suit was unsuccessful.<ref name="tomasky"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1016/p01s01-uspo.html |title=Can the Democratic Party Ignore Florida's Primary |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |access-date=March 20, 2008 |date=October 16, 2007}}</ref> The presidential candidates promised not to campaign in Florida.

Meanwhile, Michigan moved its primary to January 15, 2008, also in violation of party rules. In October 2007, Obama, Richardson, Biden, and Edwards withdrew their names from the Michigan primary ballot, under pressure from the DNC and voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Four Candidates Withdraw from Michigan Primary Ballot |publisher=Michigan Department of State |date=October 9, 2007 |url=http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127--177580--,00.html |access-date=January 10, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080116220117/http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0%2C1607%2C7-127--177580--%2C00.html |archive-date=January 16, 2008 }}</ref> Kucinich unsuccessfully sought to remove his name from the ballot,<ref name="DFP Kucinich">{{cite news |first=Zachary |last= Gorchow |title=Kucinich says he'll come to Michigan after all |url=http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080103/NEWS06/801030383/1008 |work=[[Detroit Free Press]] |date=January 3, 2008 |access-date=January 14, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109015217/http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20080103%2FNEWS06%2F801030383%2F1008 |archive-date=November 9, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> whereas Clinton and Dodd opted to remain on the ballot.<ref>{{cite news |first=Kathy Barks |last=Hoffman |title=Clinton In, 5 Dems Out of Mich. Primary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/worldlatest/story/0,,-6984389,00.html |work=[[Guardian Unlimited]] |agency=Associated Press |date=October 10, 2007 |access-date=January 14, 2008 | location=London}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> In December 2007, the DNC ruled that Michigan's 128&nbsp;pledged delegates and 29&nbsp;superdelegates would not count in the nominating contest unless it were held on a later date.<ref>{{cite news |first=Stephen |last=Ohlemacher |title=Democrats Strip Michigan of Delegates |url=http://www.wkrn.com/nashville/news/ap-democrats-strip-michigan-of-delegates/130992.htm |work=WKRN |agency=Associated Press |date=December 2, 2007 |access-date=January 14, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071203101821/http://www.wkrn.com/nashville/news/ap-democrats-strip-michigan-of-delegates/130992.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = December 3, 2007}}</ref> The Michigan Democratic party responded with a press release noting that the primary would proceed with Clinton, Dodd, Gravel, and Kucinich on the ballot. Supporters of Biden, Edwards, Richardson, and Obama were urged to vote "uncommitted" instead of writing in their candidates' names because write-in votes for those candidates would not be counted.<ref>{{cite press release |title=MDP Releases Voter Guide To Help Voters Understand Presidential Primary |publisher=[[Michigan Democratic Party]] |date=December 10, 2007 |url=http://www.michigandems.com/121007prs.html |access-date=January 10, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115115003/http://www.michigandems.com/121007prs.html |archive-date=January 15, 2008 }}</ref>

None of the top candidates campaigned in Florida or Michigan. The events were described in the media as "beauty contests,"<ref name="Quandary">{{cite news |last=Balz |first=Dan |author-link=Dan Balz |title=Sanctioned States Put Democrats in Quandary |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/08/AR2008020803801.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 9, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}} See also: {{cite news |last=Sheinin |first=Aaron Gould |title=Thurmond backs re-voting in Florida, Michigan |url=http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/03/06/floridavote_0307_web.html |work=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |date=March 6, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref> and voter turnout in both states was relatively low when compared with record-high turnout in other states.<ref>{{cite news |last=Krunholz |first=June |title=Disenfranchising Non-Voters in Florida and Michigan? |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/03/19/disenfranchising-non-voters-in-florida-and-michigan/?mod=googlenews_wsj |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=March 19, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref> Nevertheless, Clinton claimed wins in Florida and Michigan, and she flew to [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]] on the night of the Florida election to thank supporters for what she called a "tremendous victory."<ref>{{cite news |last=Broder |first=John M. |title=Clinton Wins in Florida, but Without Any Delegates to Sweeten the Victory |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/us/politics/30dems.html |work=The New York Times |date=January 30, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref>

As the primaries continued, various groups tried to negotiate a resolution to the standoff between the DNC and the state parties. The Clinton campaign advocated first for the results to stand and then for a new round of voting to take place in Michigan and Florida, while the Obama campaign deferred the matter to the DNC, while expressing a wish that the delegations be seated in some form.<ref>{{cite news |last=Luo |first=Michael |author2=John M. Broder |title=Delegate Battles Snarl Democrats in Two States |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/15/us/politics/15donate.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 15, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}} See also: {{cite news |last=Mooney |first=Alexander |title=Obama: Wright flap has 'shaken me up' |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/19/obama.interview/index.html#cnnSTCText |work=CNN |date=March 20, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref> On all sides, Democrats worried that a failure to resolve the problem could lead to a rules or credential fight at the convention and low Democratic turnout in the general election in November.<ref name="Quandary"/>

On May 31, 2008, the [[Democratic National Committee|DNC]] Rules and Bylaws Committee<ref>{{cite web |url=http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/04/rules-and-bylaws-committee-membership.html |title=Rules and Bylaws Committee membership |publisher=2008 Democratic Convention Watch |date=April 28, 2008 |access-date=May 31, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://s3.amazonaws.com/apache.3cdn.net/6db9de2c969d3fd055_2bm6ib44l.pdf |title=Regulations of the Rules & Bylaws Committee For the 2008 Democratic National Convention (amended) |publisher=DNC |date=February 1, 2007 |access-date=May 31, 2008 |archive-date=May 28, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528234625/http://s3.amazonaws.com/apache.3cdn.net/6db9de2c969d3fd055_2bm6ib44l.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> voted unanimously (27–0) to restore half-votes to all the Florida delegates, including superdelegates. The Michigan delegates were also given half-votes, with 69 delegates pledged to Hillary Clinton and 59 to Barack Obama; this proposed change passing by 19–8.<ref name="politico20080531">{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10732.html |title=DNC panel agrees to seat Mich., Fla. |access-date=June 4, 2008 |first=Amie |last=Parnes |author2=Avi Zenilman |date=May 31, 2008 |work=[[Politico (newspaper)|Politico]] }}</ref><ref name="dcw-welcome-back">{{cite web |url=http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/05/welcome-back.html |title=Florida and Michigan Votes Seated |publisher=2008 Democratic Convention Watch |date=May 31, 2008 |access-date=May 31, 2008}}</ref>

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan="2" colspan="2" style="width:20em"|Details
!rowspan="2" colspan="3" style="width:20em"|Restored votes to the convention<ref name="politico20080531"/><ref name="dcw-welcome-back"/>
!colspan="7"|Pledged delegate vote count<ref name=sourcesindicated />
|-
!colspan="3" style="width:15em"|Awarded by the DNC
!rowspan="2"|Change<br />notes
!colspan="3" style="width:15em"|Final estimate
|-
!style="width:6em"|Date
!Election link
!Pledged
!Super
!Total
!Obama
!Clinton
!Edwards
!Obama
!Clinton
!Edwards
|-
|January 15
|[[2008 Michigan Democratic presidential primary|Michigan primary]]
|128
|29<ref>+1 due to Brenda Lawrence becoming a DNC Member for ''National Conference of Democratic Mayors,'' filling a previous vacancy</ref>
|'''157'''
|59
| style="background:#ffdead;"|69
|0
|
|59
| style="background:#ffdead;"|69
|0
|-
|January 29
|[[2008 Florida Democratic presidential primary|Florida primary]]
|185
|26<ref name="Curtis">[[Kenneth M. Curtis|Ken Curtis]] moved from Maine to Florida. (Florida +1; Maine -1)</ref>
|'''211'''
|67
| style="background:#ffdead;"|105
|13
|<ref name="dcw-what-happens"/>
|67
| style="background:#ffdead;"|105
|13
|-
| –
|'''Total'''
|'''313'''
|'''55'''
|'''368'''
|'''126'''
| style="background:#ffdead;"|'''174'''
|'''13'''
|
|'''126'''
| style="background:#ffdead;"|'''174'''
|'''13'''
|-
| –
|'''To date'''
|'''448'''
|'''93'''
|'''543'''
|'''189'''
|'''222'''
|'''39'''
|
|'''214'''
|'''220'''
|'''16'''
|}

=== Super Tuesday ===
{{Main|Super Tuesday (2008)}}
[[File:Hillary Clinton HQ 2008.jpg|thumb|right|Staffers make phone calls to voters from Clinton's national campaign headquarters.]]

Traditionally, the Tuesday on which the greatest number of states hold primary elections is known as [[Super Tuesday]]. In 2007, many states moved their primaries or caucuses to early in the year so they could have greater influence over the race. As February 5 was the earliest date to be allowed by the Democratic National Committee, 23 states and territories moved their elections to that date. 2008's Super Tuesday became the date of the nation's first quasi-national primary. It was dubbed "Super Duper Tuesday"<ref>{{cite news |last=Schneider |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Schneider (journalist) |title=It could all be over after 'Super Tuesday' |work=CNN |date=February 7, 2007 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/05/schneider.superduper.tuesday/index.html |access-date=June 3, 2007}}</ref> or "Tsunami Tuesday,"<ref>{{cite news |author=Todd, Chuck |author-link=Chuck Todd |title=Will Tsunami Tuesday be an Afterthought? |date=May 10, 2007 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18593870 |work=NBC News}}</ref> among other names.

After Obama's win in the South Carolina primaries on January 26, he received high-profile endorsements from [[Caroline Kennedy]], daughter of former President [[John F. Kennedy]],<ref name="Caroline">{{cite news |first=Caroline |last=Kennedy |title=A President Like My Father |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kennedy.html |work=The New York Times |date=January 27, 2008 |access-date=January 27, 2008}}</ref> as well as Senator [[Ted Kennedy]], the former President's brother.<ref>{{cite news |first=Mike |last=Allen |author2=Brown, Carrie Budoff |title=Ted Kennedy embraces Obama |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/8134.html |work=Politico |date=January 27, 2008 |access-date=January 27, 2008}}</ref> Ted Kennedy's endorsement was considered "the biggest Democratic endorsement [that] Obama could possibly get short of Bill Clinton or [[Al Gore]]."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/us/politics/27cnd-campaign.html |title=Kennedy Plans to Back Obama Over Clinton |first=Jeff |last=Zeleny |author2= Brian Knowlton |work=The New York Times |date=January 27, 2008 |access-date=January 27, 2008}}</ref> On January 31, Obama and Clinton met for the first time in a one-on-one debate, and they struck a friendly tone.<ref>{{cite news|last=Balz|first=Dan |author2=Anne E. Kornblut|title=Head to Head, Clinton, Obama Shelve Rancor| newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013104068.html?hpid=topnews|date=February 1, 2008|access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=October 2017}} Obama surged nationally in the polls and held campaign rallies that drew audiences of over 15,000 people in several states.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rosenthal |first=Andrew |title=Michelle, Maria, Caroline and Oprah on the Hustings in California |work=The New York Times |date=February 4, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/opinion/04mon4.html}} See also: {{cite news |last=Collins |first=Gail |title=Four's a Crowd |work=The New York Times |date=January 31, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/opinion/31collins.html}} See also: {{cite news |last=Zeleny |first=Jeff |author2=Elisabeth Bumiller |title=Candidates Scrambling As Wave of Votes Nears |work=The New York Times |date=February 3, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/us/politics/03campaign.html}}</ref>

A total of 1,681 pledged delegate votes were at stake in the states that voted on February 5. The following table shows the pledged delegate votes awarded in the Super Tuesday states.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan="2" style="width:20em"|Details
!rowspan="2" colspan="3" style="width:20em"|Delegate votes to the convention
!colspan="5"|Pledged delegate vote count<ref name=sourcesindicated />
|-
!colspan="2" style="width:12em"|Election result
!rowspan="2"|Change<br />notes
!colspan="2" style="width:12em"|Final estimate
|-
!Election link
!Pledged
!Super
!Total
!Obama
!Clinton
!Obama
!Clinton
|-
|[[2008 Alabama Democratic presidential primary|Alabama primary]]
|52
|8
|'''60'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|27
|25
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|27
|25
|-
|[[2008 Alaska Democratic presidential caucuses|Alaska caucuses]]
|13
|4
|'''17'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|9
|4
|<ref>The final result of the state convention on May 24 was a 10–3 split in pledged delegates. A 9–4 split had been predicted after the precinct caucuses on February 5. See [[2008 Alaska Democratic presidential caucuses]] for details.</ref>
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|10
|3
|-
|[[2008 American Samoa Democratic presidential caucuses|American Samoa caucuses]]
|3
|6
|'''9'''
|1
| style="background:#ffdead;"|2
|
|1
| style="background:#ffdead;"|2
|-
|[[2008 Arizona Democratic presidential primary|Arizona primary]]
|56
|11
|'''67'''
|25
| style="background:#ffdead;"|31
|
|25
| style="background:#ffdead;"|31
|-
|[[2008 Arkansas Democratic presidential primary|Arkansas primary]]
|35
|12
|'''47'''
|8
| style="background:#ffdead;"|27
|
|8
| style="background:#ffdead;"|27
|-
|[[2008 California Democratic presidential primary|California primary]]
|370
|71
|'''441'''
|166
| style="background:#ffdead;"|204
|
|166
| style="background:#ffdead;"|204
|-
|[[2008 Colorado Democratic presidential caucuses|Colorado caucuses]]
|55
|15
|'''70'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|35
|20
|<ref>The final result of the state convention on May 17 and the district conventions was a 36–19 split. A 35–20 split had been predicted after the precinct caucuses on February 5. See [[2008 Colorado Democratic presidential caucuses]] for details.</ref>
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|36
|19
|-
|[[2008 Connecticut Democratic presidential primary|Connecticut primary]]
|48
|12
|'''60'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|26
|22
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|26
|22
|-
|[[2008 Delaware Democratic presidential primary|Delaware primary]]
|15
|8
|'''23'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|9
|6
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|9
|6
|-
|[[2008 Georgia Democratic presidential primary|Georgia primary]]
|87
|15
|'''102'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|60
|27
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|60
|27
|-
|[[2008 Idaho Democratic presidential caucuses|Idaho caucuses]]
|18
|5
|'''23'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|15
|3
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|15
|3
|-
|[[2008 Illinois Democratic presidential primary|Illinois primary]]
|153
|31
|'''184'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|104
|49
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|104
|49
|-
|[[2008 Kansas Democratic presidential caucuses|Kansas caucuses]]
|32
|9
|'''41'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|23
|9
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|23
|9
|-
|[[2008 Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary|Massachusetts primary]]
|93
|28
|'''121'''
|38
| style="background:#ffdead;"|55
|
|38
| style="background:#ffdead;"|55
|-
|[[2008 Minnesota Democratic presidential caucuses|Minnesota caucuses]]
|72
|16
|'''88'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|48
|24
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|48
|24
|-
|[[2008 Missouri Democratic presidential primary|Missouri primary]]
|72
|16
|'''88'''
|36
|36
|
|36
|36
|-
|[[2008 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary|New Jersey primary]]
|107
|20
|'''127'''
|48
| style="background:#ffdead;"|59
|
|48
| style="background:#ffdead;"|59
|-
|[[2008 New Mexico Democratic presidential primary|New Mexico primary]]
|26
|12
|'''38'''
|12
| style="background:#ffdead;"|14
|
|12
| style="background:#ffdead;"|14
|-
|[[2008 New York Democratic presidential primary|New York primary]]
|232
|49
|'''281'''
|93
| style="background:#ffdead;"|139
|
|93
| style="background:#ffdead;"|139
|-
|[[2008 North Dakota Democratic presidential caucuses|North Dakota caucuses]]
|13
|8
|'''21'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|8
|5
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|8
|5
|-
|[[2008 Oklahoma Democratic presidential primary|Oklahoma primary]]
|38
|10
|'''48'''
|14
| style="background:#ffdead;"|24
|
|14
| style="background:#ffdead;"|24
|-
|[[2008 Tennessee Democratic presidential primary|Tennessee primary]]
|68
|17
|'''85'''
|28
| style="background:#ffdead;"|40
|
|28
| style="background:#ffdead;"|40
|-
|[[2008 Utah Democratic presidential primary|Utah primary]]
|23
|6
|'''29'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|14
|9
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|14
|9
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''1,681'''
|'''390'''
|'''2,071'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|'''847'''
|'''834'''
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|'''849'''
|'''832'''
|-
|'''To date'''
|'''2,129'''
|'''483'''
|'''2,614'''
|'''1,036'''
|'''1,056'''
|
|'''1,063'''
|'''1,052'''
|}

On election night, both Obama and Clinton claimed victories. In the popular vote, Obama won 13 states and territories to Clinton's 10. This included the states of Idaho and Georgia, where Obama won by very wide margins. His wins in Connecticut and Missouri were considered upsets. However, Clinton won the large electoral prizes of California and Massachusetts, where some analysts had expected the Kennedy endorsements might carry Obama to the victory. Although Obama gained significant ground from where he was polling in mid-January, it was not enough to close the gap in those states. In exit polls, Obama gained some overwhelming support of African-American voters, and he strengthened his base among college-educated voters and voters younger than the age of 45. Clinton found significant support among white women, [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Latino]]s, and voters over age 65. Obama ran strongest in caucus states, [[Rocky Mountains|Rocky Mountain states]], [[Southern United States|Southern states]] and [[Midwestern United States|Midwestern states]]. Clinton ran strongest in the [[Northeastern United States|Northeastern states]], [[Southwestern United States|Southwestern states]], and states bordering [[Arkansas]], where she served as first lady while her husband served as that state's governor. When the delegate counting was finished, Obama won an estimated 847 pledged delegates to Clinton's 834. Early in the primary season, many observers had predicted that the nomination would be over after [[Super Tuesday]], but the general verdict on election night was that the candidates had drawn to a virtual tie and that the race for the Democratic presidential nomination would not likely be settled for at least a month.<ref name="hookbarabak">{{cite news |last=Hook |first=Janet |author2=Mark Z. Barabak |title=Obama, Clinton campaigns assess Super Tuesday results |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-demcampaign7feb07,0,5501826.story |date=February 6, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080209104809/http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-demcampaign7feb07%2C0%2C5501826.story |archive-date=February 9, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Mid-February contests ===
In the following week, it became clear that a tie on Super Tuesday would leave Obama better positioned for the upcoming contests in February, where the demographics of several large states seemed to favor him.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cillizza |first=Chris |author-link=Chris Cillizza |title=What's Next |url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/02/whats_next.html |department=The Fix |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 7, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830071103/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/02/whats_next.html |archive-date=August 30, 2008 }}</ref> The day after Super Tuesday, February 6, Clinton announced that she had personally lent her campaign $5 million in January.<ref name="hookbarabak"/> The news came as a surprise and set off another round of news stories about Clinton donors and supporters concerned about the campaign's strategy. It was particularly striking in light of Obama's announcement that he had raised a record-high $32 million in January, tapping 170,000 new contributors.<ref>{{cite news |last=Zeleny |first=Jeff |author2=Leslie Wayne |date=February 1, 2008 |work=The New York Times |title=Enlisting New Donors, Obama Reaped $32 Million in January |access-date=March 20, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/us/politics/01donate.html }}</ref> It became clear that Obama's financial advantage had allowed him to organize and compete in some broader states on Super Tuesday, an advantage that was likely to continue in the upcoming months and weeks. In response, Clinton's supporters raised $6 million online in 36 hours, but Obama's campaign upped the ante, announcing their own total of $7.5 million in 36 hours and starting a new goal of reaching 500,000 new contributors in 2008 by late February.<ref>{{cite news |last=Healy |first=Patrick |author2=Jeff Zeleny |title=Obama Outshines Clinton at Raising Funds |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/us/politics/08clinton.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 8, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref>

{{clear}}
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan="2" colspan="2" style="width:20em"|Details
!rowspan="2" colspan="3" style="width:20em"|Delegate votes to the convention
!colspan="5"|Pledged delegate vote count<ref name=sourcesindicated />
|-
!colspan="2" style="width:12em"|Election result
!rowspan="2"|Change<br />notes
!colspan="2" style="width:12em"|Final estimate
|-
!Date
!Election link
!Pledged
!Super
!Total
!Obama
!Clinton
!Obama
!Clinton
|-
|rowspan="4"|February 9
|[[2008 Louisiana Democratic presidential primary|Louisiana primary]]
|56
|11
|'''67'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|33
|23
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|33
|23
|-
|[[2008 Nebraska Democratic presidential caucuses|Nebraska caucuses]]
|24
|7
|'''31'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|16
|8
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|16
|8
|-
|[[2008 U.S. Virgin Islands Democratic presidential convention|U.S. Virgin Islands convention]]
|3
|6
|'''9'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|3
|0
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|3
|0
|-
|[[2008 Washington Democratic presidential caucuses|Washington caucuses]]<ref name="WaPrimary">Washington Democrats use the February 9 caucuses to award delegates and ignore the February 19 primary. See [[2008 Washington Democratic presidential caucuses]] for details.</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=In Washington State Vote, Relevance Is an Issue |first=William |last=Yardley |work=The New York Times |date=February 18, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/us/politics/18washington.html }}</ref>
|78
|19
|'''97'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|52
|26
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|52
|26
|-
|February 10
|[[2008 Maine Democratic presidential caucuses|Maine caucuses]]
|24
|8
|'''32'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|15
|9
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|15
|9
|-
|February 5–12
|[[2008 Democrats Abroad presidential primary|Democrats Abroad primary]]
|7
|4
|'''11'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|4½
|2½
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|4½
|2½
|-
|rowspan="3"|February 12
|[[2008 District of Columbia Democratic presidential primary|D.C. primary]]
|15
|24
|'''39'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|12
|3
|<ref name="District of Columbia">Clinton pledged delegate [[Jack Evans (D.C. Council)|Jack Evans]] has announced an intention to vote for Obama at the national convention. See [http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2008/05/17/jack-throws-support-to-obama/ Washington City Paper] and [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/05/superdelegate_jack_evans_switc.html Washington Post] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007213503/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/05/superdelegate_jack_evans_switc.html |date=October 7, 2008 }} articles. See [[2008 District of Columbia Democratic presidential primary]] for details.</ref>
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|13
|2
|-
|[[2008 Maryland Democratic presidential primary|Maryland primary]]
|70
|28<ref name="wynnwp">[[Albert Wynn]] announced his resignation as U.S. Representative on March 28, 2008. (Maryland -1) See {{cite news |last=Helderman |first=Rosalind S. |author2=Jeffrey H. Birnbaum |title=Wynn Decides to Leave Congress Months Before His Term Expires |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=March 28, 2008 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/27/AR2008032702136.html |access-date=March 30, 2008}}</ref>
|'''98'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|42
|28
|<ref name="Maryland">In May, pledged Clinton delegate [[Jack B. Johnson]] said he would vote for Obama, and urge the entire Maryland delegation to do so also. See "[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051202554.html Pr. George's Executive Switches To Obama]", ''The Washington Post'', May 13, 2008. See [[2008 Maryland Democratic presidential primary]] for details.</ref>
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|43
|27
|-
|[[2008 Virginia Democratic presidential primary|Virginia primary]]
|83
|18
|'''101'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|54
|29
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|54
|29
|-
|rowspan="2"|February 19
|[[2008 Hawaii Democratic presidential caucuses|Hawaii caucuses]]
|20
|9
|'''29'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|14
|6
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|14
|6
|-
|[[2008 Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary|Wisconsin primary]]
|74
|18
|'''92'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|42
|32
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|42
|32
|-
| –
|'''Total'''
|'''454'''
|'''152'''
|'''606'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|'''287½'''
|'''166½'''
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|'''289½'''
|'''164½'''
|-
| –
|'''To date'''
|'''2,583'''
|'''635'''
|'''3,220'''
|'''1,323½'''
|'''1,222½'''
|
|'''1,352½'''
|'''1,216½'''
|}
[[File:Obama 2008 Seattle.jpg|thumb|right|An Obama rally in Seattle, Washington, draws 18,000 people.]]

As expected, Obama swept the three nominating events on February 9, which were thought to favor him based on the results in similar states that had voted previously. He then scored a convincing win in [[Maine]], where Clinton had hoped to hold her ground.<ref>{{cite news |last=Seelye |first=Katharine Q. |title=Maine to Obama; Clinton Replaces Campaign Leader |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/us/politics/11dems.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 11, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref> The same day, Clinton's campaign announced that campaign advisor [[Patti Solis Doyle]] would resign. Obama's momentum carried throughout the following week, as he scored large delegate gains in the [[Potomac primary|Potomac primaries]], taking the lead in the nationwide [[Results of the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries#Popular vote|popular vote]], even under the projection most favorable to Clinton, with Florida and Michigan included. [[NBC News]] declared him "Mr. Frontrunner" on February 13.<ref>{{cite news |last=Todd |first=Chuck |title=First Thoughts: Mr. Front-Runner |work=First Read |publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=February 13, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008 |url=http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/13/661146.aspx |display-authors=etal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080401022002/http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/13/661146.aspx |archive-date=April 1, 2008 }}</ref> Clinton attempted a comeback win in the demographically more favorable state of Wisconsin, but Obama won again by a larger margin than expected. In 11 days, he swept 11 contests and extended his pledged delegate lead by 120. By the end of the month, Obama had 1,192 pledged delegates to Clinton's 1,035. He also began closing the gap in superdelegates, although Clinton still led among superdelegates by 240–191. Clinton's campaign tried to downplay the results of the February contests, and the candidate refused to acknowledge the losses in her speeches on election nights.{{Citation needed|date=February 2016}} Her advisers acknowledged that she would need big wins in the upcoming states to turn the race around.

=== March ===
{{See also|Jeremiah Wright controversy|A More Perfect Union (speech)}}

With four states and 370 delegates at stake, March 4 was dubbed "Mini-Super Tuesday" or "[[Super Tuesday II, 2008|Super Tuesday II]]". Just as Obama had been favored in the mid-February states, Clinton was favored in Ohio, with its high proportion of [[working-class]] white voters and older voters, and Texas, with its high proportion of [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Latino]] voters. Exit polls in previous states showed that all three groups were a part of Clinton's base. In mid-February, Clinton held a 10-point lead in Texas and a 20-point lead in Ohio in [[RealClearPolitics]] polling averages.<ref>[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/tx/texas_democratic_primary-312.html RealClearPolitics, Texas Polling Average], [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/oh/ohio_democratic_primary-263.html RealClearPolitics, Ohio Polling Average]</ref> Her campaign set its sights on the Ohio-Texas "firewall," counting on a clear March 4 win to change the narrative and turn her campaign around for the nomination. Meanwhile, Obama hoped to win one or both states that might be enough to knock Clinton out of the race. By February 25, according to a [[CNN]] poll, they were in a statistical dead heat in Texas.<ref>{{cite news |last=Steinhauser |first=Paul |title=Poll: It's all tied up for Dems in Texas |work=CNN |date=February 25, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/25/texas.poll}}</ref>

[[File:Hillary Clinton Lorain 2008.jpg|thumb|left|Clinton campaigns in Lorain, Ohio.]]

In the last week of February, Clinton's campaign seemed to be back on its feet. A [[Saturday Night Live]] sketch mocked the media for its supposedly biased coverage in favor of Obama, and Clinton used the sketch to argue that Obama had not received proper scrutiny. The media responded by taking a more critical look at Obama's campaign.<ref name="tonechanges">{{cite news |last=Seelye |first=Katharine Q. |title=News Coverage Changes, and So Does Tone of the Campaign |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/us/politics/05press.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 5, 2008|access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref> Meanwhile, Obama supporter and former fundraiser [[Tony Rezko]] went on trial in a political corruption case in Chicago. While Obama was not implicated, questions remained about how forthcoming he had been about his relationship with Rezko.<ref name="tonechanges"/> Controversy also erupted when it was reported in the Canadian press that Obama economic advisor [[Austan Goolsbee]] had privately offered assurances that Obama's anti-[[North American Free Trade Agreement]] rhetoric on the campaign trail was exaggerated. Obama's campaign denied the substance of the report, but their response was muddled by a series of missteps and may have hurt the candidate's standing with Ohio voters.<ref>{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Carrie Budoff |title=Conflicting Obama answers on NAFTA meeting |work=[[Politico (newspaper)|Politico]] |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8819.html |date=March 4, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref> Clinton launched a five-point attack on Obama's qualifications, "unleashing what one Clinton aide called a 'kitchen sink' fusillade," according to ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Healy |first=Patrick and Julie Bosman |title=Clinton Campaign Starts 5-Point Attack on Obama |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/us/politics/26clinton.html |date=February 26, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref> Perhaps the most damaging component was a campaign ad that aired in Texas, using the imagery of the [[White House]] "red phone" to suggest that Obama would not be prepared to handle a crisis as commander-in-chief when a phone call comes into the White House at 3 a.m. The ad drew significant media attention in the four days before the election.<ref>{{cite news |last=Seelye |first=Katharine Q. |author2=Jeff Zeleny |title=Clinton Questions Role of Obama in a Crisis |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/us/politics/01campaign.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 22, 2008 |access-date=March 24, 2008}}</ref>  In the general-election campaign, McCain used parts of the ad against Obama.<ref>{{cite news | last = Glover | first = Mike | title = McCain ad returns to Clinton's 3 a.m. phone call | newspaper = [[USA Today]] | date = August 26, 2008 | url = http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-08-26-3886087604_x.htm | access-date = December 28, 2016}}</ref>

{{clear}}
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan="2" colspan="2" style="width:20em"|Details
!rowspan="2" colspan="3" style="width:20em"|Delegate votes to the convention
!colspan="5"|Pledged delegate vote count<ref name=sourcesindicated />
|-
!colspan="2" style="width:12em"|Election result
!rowspan="2"|Change<br />notes
!colspan="2" style="width:12em"|Final estimate
|-
!style="width:6em"|Date
!Election link
!Pledged
!Super
!Total
!Obama
!Clinton
!Obama
!Clinton
|-
|rowspan="5"|March 4
|[[2008 Ohio Democratic presidential primary|Ohio primary]]
|141
|21
|'''162'''
|67
| style="background:#ffdead;"|74
|
|67
| style="background:#ffdead;"|74
|-
|[[2008 Rhode Island Democratic presidential primary|Rhode Island primary]]
|21
|12
|'''33'''
|8
| style="background:#ffdead;"|13
|
|8
| style="background:#ffdead;"|13
|-
|[[2008 Texas Democratic presidential primary and caucuses|Texas primary]]<ref name="txprimary">Under the rules of Texas's unique "two-step" system, 126 pledged delegates are chosen during the primary on March 4. The remaining 67 pledged delegates are chosen during a caucus process beginning March 4 and culminating in a state convention June 6–7.</ref>
|126
|rowspan="2"|35
|rowspan="2"|'''228'''
|61
| style="background:#ffdead;"|65
|
|61
| style="background:#ffdead;"|65
|-
|[[2008 Texas Democratic presidential primary and caucuses|Texas caucuses]]<ref name="txprimary"/>
|67
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|38
|29
|<ref name="txupdate">The results from the Texas county conventions on March 29 predict a 37–30 split, in contrast to the precinct conventions on March 4, which predicted a 38–29 split. The June 6 convention changed the split to a 38–29 count for Obama. See [[2008 Texas Democratic presidential primary and caucuses]] for details.</ref>
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|38
|29
|-
|[[2008 Vermont Democratic presidential primary|Vermont primary]]
|15
|8
|'''23'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|9
|6
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|9
|6
|-
|March 8
|[[2008 Wyoming Democratic presidential caucuses|Wyoming caucuses]]
|12
|6
|'''18'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|7
|5
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|7
|5
|-
|March 11
|[[2008 Mississippi Democratic presidential primary|Mississippi primary]]
|33
|8
|'''41'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|20
|13
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|20
|13
|-
| –
|'''Total'''
|'''415'''
|'''90'''
|'''505'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|'''210'''
| '''205'''
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|'''210'''
| '''205'''
|-
| –
|'''To date'''
|'''2,998'''
|'''725'''
|'''3,725'''
|'''1,533½'''
|'''1,427½'''
|
|'''1,562½'''
|'''1,421½'''
|}
On election night, Clinton scored convincing wins in Ohio and Rhode Island. She narrowly won the Texas primary, while losing the Texas caucus. She pitched her wins that night as a comeback: "For everyone here in Ohio and across America who's ever been counted out but refused to be knocked out, and for everyone who has stumbled but stood right back up, and for everyone who works hard and never gives up, this one is for you."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/hillary_clintons_ohio_primary.html |title=Hillary Clinton's Ohio Primary Victory Speech}}</ref>

Obama focused on the "delegate math." He won the total delegate count in Texas, and he stayed close to Clinton on the delegate count in Ohio. "No matter what happens tonight," he said, "we have nearly the same delegate lead that we did this morning, and we are on our way to winning this nomination."<ref>{{cite news |last=Nagourney |first=Adam |title=Big Wins for Clinton in Texas and Ohio; McCain Clinches Race as Foe Concedes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/us/politics/05primary.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 5, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref> In fact, March 4 was the first election day in which Clinton won more delegates than Obama (though the Florida and Michigan primaries would later be honored by seating half of the states' delegations). After winning contests in Wyoming and Mississippi the following week, Obama erased Clinton's March 4 gains. On March 15, he increased his lead by 10 delegates at the Iowa county conventions, when former supporters of withdrawn candidates switched their support to him.

After the March contests, the Democratic race entered a six-week period with no upcoming contests until April 22. As the campaigns settled in for the long haul, advisors for both candidates escalated their rhetoric and stepped up attacks in their daily [[conference call]]s. News reports described the tenor as increasingly "rancorous" and "vitriolic."<ref>{{cite news |last=Seeyle |first=Katherine Q. |author2=Julie Bosman |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/us/politics/01fight.html |date=April 1, 2008 |access-date=April 1, 2008 |title=Carrying Primary Scars Into the General Election }} See also: {{cite news |last=Cillizza |first=Chris |newspaper=The Washington Post |department=The Fix |title=FixCam: Obamacains and McClintons |date=March 27, 2008 |access-date=April 1, 2008 |url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/fixcam_obamaniacs_and_mcclinto.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321030407/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/fixcam_obamaniacs_and_mcclinto.html |archive-date=March 21, 2012 }}</ref>

On March 14, clips of controversial [[sermon]]s from Obama's former pastor, [[Jeremiah Wright]], resurfaced on [[YouTube]] and received heavy airtime on cable news television. Among other things, Wright said, "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme." Four days later, Obama responded to the controversy in a 37-minute speech, speaking openly about race and religion in the United States. He denounced Wright's remarks while refusing to condemn the pastor himself, and he attempted to pivot from the immediate circumstances to address the larger theme of "[[A More Perfect Union (speech)|A More Perfect Union]]." The speech was regarded as "breathtakingly unconventional" in its political strategy and tone,<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Carney |first=James |title=Obama's Bold Gamble on Race |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1723302,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080320042736/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1723302,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 20, 2008 |date=March 18, 2008 |access-date=April 1, 2008}}</ref> and it received generally positive reviews in the press. ''The New York Times'' weighed in with an editorial: "Senator Barack Obama, who has not faced such tests of character this year, faced one on Tuesday. It is hard to imagine how he could have handled it better."<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr. Obama's Profile in Courage |author=Opinion|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/opinion/19wed1.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 19, 2008 |access-date=March 19, 2008}}</ref> Ten days later, the speech had been watched at least 3.4 million times on YouTube.<ref>{{cite news |author=Stelter |first=Brian |work=The New York Times |title=Finding Political News Online, the Young Pass It On |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/us/politics/27voters.html |date=March 27, 2008 | access-date=March 27, 2008}}</ref>

On March 21, former primary candidate Bill Richardson, who has previously held important posts in the Clinton Administration, endorsed Barack Obama, a move that drew intense criticism from Clinton allies, including [[James Carville]]'s [[Easter]]time comparison of Richardson with [[Judas Iscariot]].<ref name="judas">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/us/politics/22richardson.html |first=Adam|last= Nagourney|author2= Jeff Zeleny |work=The New York Times |date=March 22, 2008 |access-date=March 24, 2008 |title=First a Tense Talk With Clinton, Then Richardson Backs Obama}}</ref> On March 25, Mike Gravel announced that he would leave the Democrats and join the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]], entering the race for the [[United States Libertarian presidential candidates, 2008|2008 Libertarian presidential nomination]] the following day.<ref name="nw033108">{{cite news |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/129467/ |title=Maverick Mike |first=Sarah |last= Elkins |work=[[Newsweek]] |date=March 31, 2008 |access-date=April 1, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080506232848/http://www.newsweek.com/id/129467/ <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = May 6, 2008}}</ref>

=== April and beyond ===
[[File:Obama in Oregon 75,000 people.jpg|right|thumb|200px|On May 18, Obama speaks to a crowd of 75,000 in Portland, Oregon.<ref>MARIA Gavrilovic, Maria (May 18, 2008), [http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/05/18/politics/fromtheroad/entry4105449.shtml "Obama Takes His Message To Record Crowd"], CBS News.</ref>
]]
As the race continued to Pennsylvania, Indiana, and North Carolina, many observers concluded that Clinton had little chance to overcome Obama's lead in pledged delegates.<ref>{{cite news |last=Alter |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Alter |title=Hillary's New Math Problem |work=Newsweek |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/119010}}</ref> Even if she were to succeed in changing the dynamics of the race, there would not be enough pledged delegates remaining for her to catch up under most realistic scenarios.<ref name="narrowpath">{{cite news |last=Nagourney |first=Adam |title=Clinton Facing Narrower Path to Nomination |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/us/politics/20memo.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 20, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref> Some analysts believed Clinton could still win the nomination by raising doubts about Obama's electability, fighting for Michigan and Florida delegates to be seated at the convention, and convincing superdelegates to support her despite her expected loss in the pledged delegate vote.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cillizza |first=Chris |department=The Fix |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/the_blueprint_hillary_rodham_c.html |title=Clinton's Blueprint for Victory |date=March 6, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725040829/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/the_blueprint_hillary_rodham_c.html |archive-date=July 25, 2008 }}</ref> However, the window of opportunity for re-votes in Michigan and Florida appeared to close in late March,<ref name="narrowpath"/> and [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|House Speaker]] [[Nancy Pelosi]], chairwoman of the Democratic National Convention, said that it would be harmful to the party if superdelegates were to overturn the result of the pledged delegate vote.<ref>{{cite news |title=Pelosi's Delegate Stance Boosts Obama |date=March 14, 2008 |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |url=http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/03/pelosis-delegat.html |access-date=April 1, 2008}}</ref>

Complicating the equation for Democrats, presidential candidate [[John McCain 2008 presidential campaign|John McCain]] clinched the [[2008 Republican Party presidential primaries|Republican nomination]] on March 4. With Obama and Clinton engaged in the Democratic primary, McCain was free to define his candidacy for the general election largely unchallenged. Some Democrats expressed concern that Clinton stayed in the campaign through March and April, when they felt she had little chance to win the nomination, but a much greater chance to damage Obama's candidacy in the general election. However, others defended Clinton's right to continue on, arguing that a sustained campaign was good for the Democratic Party and that Clinton still had a realistic shot at the nomination.<ref>{{cite news |last=Nagourney |first=Adam |author2=Carl Hulse |title=Clinton Success Changes Dynamic In Delegate Hunt |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/us/politics/06elect.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 6, 2008 |access-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref>

On April 22, Clinton scored a convincing win in Pennsylvania. However, on May 6, Obama surprised many observers by winning North Carolina by almost 15 percentage points, effectively erasing Clinton's gains in Pennsylvania. Clinton won by only 1 point in Indiana. With Obama now leading by 164 pledged delegates and with only 217 pledged delegates left to be decided in the remaining contests, many pundits declared that the primary was effectively over. Obama gave an election night speech that looked forward to the general election campaign against McCain.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rutenberg |first=Jim |work=The New York Times |date=May 8, 2008 |access-date=May 8, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/us/politics/07cnd-pundits.html |title=Pundits Declare the Race Over}}</ref> The pace of superdelegate endorsements increased. On May 10, Obama's superdelegate total surpassed Clinton's for the first time in the race, making the math increasingly difficult for a Clinton win.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/10/obama-picks-up-utah-superdelegate |work=[[Fox News]] |date=May 10, 2008 |access-date=May 11, 2008 |title=Obama Takes Superdelegate Lead for the First Time}}</ref>

Clinton vowed to continue campaigning, and won convincingly in primaries in [[West Virginia]] on May 13, and [[Kentucky]] on May 20 where Appalachian voters strongly preferred her over Obama. However, Obama was able to clear a victory in Oregon on May 20, which allowed him to clinch the majority of pledged delegates. Obama gave a speech in [[Des Moines, Iowa]], the state that propelled his candidacy, in which he stated, "You have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for president of the United States of America."<ref>"Obama's Remarks in Des Moines," transcript, ''NY Times,'' May 20, 2008. Accessed October 16, 2012.</ref> Clinton advisers said they would appeal to the DNC's Rules & Bylaws Committee<ref>{{cite web |url=http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/04/rules-and-bylaws-committee-membership.html |title=2008 Democratic Convention Watch: Rules and Bylaws Committee membership |publisher=2008 Democratic Convention Watch |date=April 28, 2008 |access-date=May 9, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/2008RegulationsoftheRBCFINAL.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608001804/http://www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/2008RegulationsoftheRBCFINAL.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 8, 2011 |title=Regulations of the Rules & Bylaws Committee For The 2008 Democratic National Convention |publisher=Democratic Party of the United States |date=December 2, 2006 |access-date=May 9, 2008 }}</ref> to have the Michigan and Florida delegations seated. However, even under the most favorable seating arrangement, she would not have been able to take a lead in pledged delegates and would have had to rely on superdelegates to win the nomination. On May 31, the rules committee accepted the Michigan state party's 69-59 distribution of pledged delegates and restored half votes to Florida's and Michigan's delegations. This resulted in a net gain for Clinton of 24 pledged delegates. Obama remained significantly ahead, with a lead of 137 pledged delegates before the [[2008 Puerto Rico Democratic presidential primary|Puerto Rico primary]] on June 1.

{{multiple image
 | align     = right
 | direction = horizontal
 | header    = [[Barack Obama]] on the night he clinched the Democratic nomination.
 | header_align =center
 | header_background =
 | footer    = June 3, 2008 at [[Xcel Energy Center]] (right with [[Michelle Obama|Michelle]])
 | footer_align = left/right/center
 | footer_background =
 | width     =
 | image1    = 20080603 Obama Speaks on Nomination Victory Night.jpg
 | width1    = 120
 | caption1  =
 | image2    = 20080603 Obama Speaks to crowd on Nomination Victory Night.jpg
 | width2    = 120
 | caption2  =
 | image3    = 20080603 Obamas enter stage on Nomination Victory Night.jpg
 | width3    = 133
 | caption3  =
}}
On June 3, the day of the final primaries in South Dakota and Montana, Obama rolled out about sixty superdelegate endorsements. Those endorsements, together with the pledged delegates awarded in the final primaries, put him well over the "magic number" of 2,117 delegate votes necessary for a majority at the Democratic National Convention. By early in the evening, all major news organizations had announced that Obama had clinched the Democratic nomination, and Obama claimed the status of [[presumptive nominee]] in a speech in [[St. Paul, Minnesota]]. Clinton did not concede the nomination in her election night speech, saying that she would be "making no decisions tonight".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/03/election.democrats/index.html|title=Obama: I will be the Democratic nominee|date=June 3, 2008|publisher=CNN|access-date=June 4, 2008}}</ref> On the morning of June 5, Clinton posted on her website an open letter to her supporters, which she also sent by e-mail that day. It announced that on Saturday (June 7) Clinton would endorse Obama's candidacy. During a well received concession speech in Washington DC on Saturday June 7 Clinton endorsed Obama in the following terms:
"The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength, and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama, the next president of the United States.
Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him."

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;margin-bottom:0"
|-
!rowspan="2" colspan="2" style="width:20em"|Details
!rowspan="2" colspan="3" style="width:20em"|Delegate votes to the convention
!colspan="6"|Pledged delegate vote count<ref name=sourcesindicated />
|-
!colspan="2" style="width:15em"|Election result
!rowspan="2"|Change<br />notes
!colspan="2" style="width:15em"|Final estimate
|-
!style="width:6em"|Date
!Election link
!Pledged
!Super
!Total
!Obama
!Clinton
!Obama
!Clinton
|-
|April 22
|[[2008 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary|Pennsylvania primary]]
|158
|29
|'''187'''
|73
| style="background:#ffdead;"|85
|
|73
| style="background:#ffdead;"|85
|-
|May 3
|[[2008 Guam Democratic territorial convention|Guam caucuses]]
|4
|5
|'''9'''
|2
|2
|
|2
|2
|-
|rowspan="2"|May 6
|[[2008 Indiana Democratic presidential primary|Indiana primary]]
|72
|13
|'''85'''
|34
| style="background:#ffdead;"|38
|
|34
| style="background:#ffdead;"|38
|-
|[[2008 North Carolina Democratic presidential primary|North Carolina primary]]
|115
|19
|'''134'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|67
|48
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|67
|48
|-
|May 13
|[[2008 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary|West Virginia primary]]
|28
|11
|'''39'''
|8
| style="background:#ffdead;"|20
|
|8
| style="background:#ffdead;"|20
|-
|rowspan="2"|May 20
|[[2008 Kentucky Democratic presidential primary|Kentucky primary]]
|51
|9
|'''60'''
|14
| style="background:#ffdead;"|37
|
|14
| style="background:#ffdead;"|37
|-
|[[2008 Oregon Democratic presidential primary|Oregon primary]]
|52
|13
|'''65'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|31
|21
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|31
|21
|-
|June 1
|[[2008 Puerto Rico Democratic presidential primary|Puerto Rico primary]]
|55
|8
|'''63'''
|17
| style="background:#ffdead;"|38
|
|17
| style="background:#ffdead;"|38
|-
|rowspan="2"|June 3
|[[2008 Montana Democratic presidential primary|Montana primary]]
|16
|9
|'''25'''
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|9
|7
|
| style="background:#d6b6f9;"|9
|7
|-
|[[2008 South Dakota Democratic primary|South Dakota primary]]
|15
|8
|'''23'''
|6
| style="background:#ffdead;"|9
|
|6
| style="background:#ffdead;"|9
|-
| –
|At-large vacancies<sup>*</sup>
| –
|2
|'''2'''
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| –
|'''Total'''
|'''566'''
|'''126'''
|'''692'''
|'''261'''
| style="background:#ffdead;"|'''305'''
|
|'''261'''
| style="background:#ffdead;"|'''305'''
|-
| –
|'''To date'''
|'''3,564'''
|'''851'''
|'''4,417'''
|'''1,794½'''
|'''1,732½'''
|
|'''1,823½'''
|'''1,726½'''
|}

<small><nowiki>*</nowiki> Two at-large DNC superdelegate seats are vacant, see: [[List of superdelegates at the 2008 Democratic National Convention#History of superdelegate composition changes|History of superdelegate composition changes]].</small>

== Results ==

Below are the results for the state primaries and caucuses held by the Democratic Party in 2008 for the presidential primaries.[https://web.archive.org/web/20170103004222/http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/results/demmap/] [http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=2008&elect=1] Clinton won one territorial contest, [[Puerto Rico]], whilst Obama won [[Guam]], the [[United States Virgin Islands|US Virgin Islands]] and [[American Samoa]]. He also won the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]].

[[File:2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries by counties.svg|frameless|900px]]
{{collapsible list
| title = {{legend|#800080|Obama}}
|{{legend|#f9edf9|20–30%}}
|{{legend|#f5e1f5|30–40%}}
|{{legend|#e1bbe1|40–50%}}
|{{legend|#cf94cf|50–60%}}
|{{legend|#bd6fbd|60–70%}}
|{{legend|#a949a9|70–80%}}
|{{legend|#863886|80–90%}}
|{{legend|#632761|90–100%}}
|{{legend|#4a1d49|100%}}
}}
{{collapsible list
| title = {{legend|#d4aa00|Clinton}}
|{{legend|#ffeed5|30–40%}}
|{{legend|#fce0b4|40–50%}}
|{{legend|#f1c98b|50–60%}}
|{{legend|#e6b263|60–70%}}
|{{legend|#d99a39|70–80%}}
|{{legend|#af7b2c|80–90%}}
|{{legend|#855d20|90–100%}}
|{{legend|#644618|100%}}
}}
{{collapsible list
| title = {{legend|#ff7f2a|Edwards}}
|{{legend|#ffcbbb|20–30%}}
|{{legend|#ffb59d|30–40%}}
|{{legend|#fc9978|40–50%}}
}}
{{collapsible list
| title = {{legend|#3156e6|Uncommitted}}
|{{legend|#a9baff|40–50%}}
}}
{{legend|#999999|'''No results'''}}
[[File:Results of the 2008 Democratic primaries..png|frameless|900x900px]]

{{legend|#800080|[[Barack Obama]]|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}
{{legend|#d4aa00|[[Hillary Clinton]]|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}
{{legend|#ff7f2a|[[John Edwards]]|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}
{{legend|#b2b2b2|Tie|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}
{{legend|#000000|No results|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}

N.B: The grey counties in [[Michigan]] denote that the counties are uncommitted for either candidate.

== Voter turnout ==
[[File:Primary 2008 Voter Turnout.svg|thumb|right|350px|Democratic primary turnout exceeded Republican turnout in most states through March 4 (when [[John McCain]] clinched the Republican nomination). The eight exceptions were Alabama, Alaska, McCain's home state of Arizona, Idaho, Nebraska, Utah, and Florida and Michigan, where the Democratic primaries had been nullified.]]

[[Voter turnout]] was at historically high levels in the 2008 primaries and caucuses, with many contests setting all-time records for turnout. Voter turnout on Super Tuesday was at 27% of eligible citizens, breaking the previous record of 25.9% set in 1972.<ref>{{cite news |first=Katharine |last=Seelye |title=The Caucus: Records for Turnout |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E6D71031F934A35751C0A96E9C8B63&scp=11&sq=voter+turnout+democratic&st=nyt# |work=The New York Times |date=February 7, 2008 |access-date=March 9, 2008 }}</ref> Turnout was higher among Democrats than [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]], with Democratic turnout surpassing Republican turnout even in traditionally [[red states]] where the number of registered Democrats is proportionally low.<ref>{{cite news |first= David |last= Herszenhorn |title=Senate Democrats Hope for a Majority Not Seen in 30 Years: 60 Seats |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/us/politics/07senate.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 7, 2008 |access-date=March 9, 2008 }}</ref> Many states reported high levels of Democratic [[voter registration]] in the weeks before primaries.<ref>{{cite news |first=Thomas |last=Kaplan |title=Connecticut Sees Surge of Voters for Primary |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/nyregion/05conn.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 5, 2008 |access-date=March 9, 2008 }}</ref> From January 3 through February 5, Democratic turnout exceeded Republican turnout, 19.1 million to 13.1 million.<ref name="Garber">{{cite news |first=Kent |last=Garber |title=High Democratic Turnout Sends a Mixed Signal for November |url=https://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/02/28/high-democratic-turnout-sends-a-mixed-signal-for-november.html |work=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |date=March 7, 2008 |access-date=March 9, 2008 }}</ref>
{{Quotation|In the first five weeks of 2008, 'voter turnout' was a phrase that was used almost exclusively in connection with the Democratic Party. There were routine stories of precincts running short on ballots, poll hours being extended, and voters packing haunch to paunch inside community centers and local churches. Crowd sizes were described, often with growing awe, as 'staggering,' 'record breaking,' or 'unprecedented.'|Kent Garber|U.S. News & World Report<ref name="Garber"/>}}

The high Democratic turnout was attributed to several factors:<ref>{{cite news |first= Laris |last= Michael |title=Tight Race and Deep Interest Augur Big Turnout Today |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/11/AR2008021101532.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 12, 2008 |access-date=March 9, 2008 }} See also: {{cite news |first= Peter |last= Whoriskey |title=GEORGIA: Low GOP Enthusiasm |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/05/AR2008020502976.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 6, 2008 |access-date=March 9, 2008 }}</ref>
* the compressed primary calendar, which gave voters in more states an opportunity to participate in the nomination
* media interest and voter excitement generated by the first viable [[African-American]] and female presidential contenders
* dissatisfaction with Republican presidential candidates
* the early emergence of [[John McCain]] as the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party
* [[open primary|open primaries]] in some states, which allowed Republicans and [[independent (voter)|independent]] voters to participate in Democratic contests
* dissatisfaction with President [[George W. Bush]] and [[Iraq War]] policy
* cyclical [[realigning election|party realignment]]
{{clear}}

== See also ==
* [[Fundraising for the 2008 United States presidential election]]
* [[Nationwide opinion polling for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries]]
* [[Political positions of Barack Obama]]
* [[Political positions of Hillary Clinton]]
* [[2008 Republican Party presidential primaries]]
* [[Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries]]
* [[2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{Commons-inline}}

{{2008 Democratic primaries}}
{{2008 United States presidential election}}
{{U.S. presidential primaries}}
{{Barack Obama}}
{{Hillary Clinton}}
{{Joe Biden}}
{{John Edwards}}
{{Democratic Party (United States)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Democratic Party (United States) Presidential Primaries, 2008}}
[[Category:2008 United States Democratic presidential primaries| ]]