2008 United States presidential election in Oregon

Main article:2008 United States presidential election

2008United States presidential electionin Oregon

November 4, 2008

Nominee Barack Obama John McCain Party Democratic Republican Home state Illinois Arizona Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin Electoral vote 7 0 Popular vote 1,037,291 738,475 Percentage 56.75% 40.40%

County Results Obama 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% McCain 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80%

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

The2008 United States presidential election in Oregontook place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the2008 United States presidential election.Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to theElectoral College,who voted forpresidentandvice president.

Oregonwas won by Democratic nomineeBarack Obamawith a 16.4% margin of victory, making him the first successful Democrat sinceLyndon B. Johnsonin 1964 to win over 50% of the state’s votes. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safeblue state.Situated on the West Coast, which has become a reliably Democratic stronghold, Oregon is a relativelyblue state.The last Republican presidential nominee to carry Oregon wasRonald Reaganin his1984landslide reelection. AlthoughGeorge W. Bushcame close in both2000and2004(withAl Gorewinning by 0.54 percentage points in 2000 andJohn Kerryby 4.16 percentage points in 2004), Republicans have not seriously contested the state since. This is also the first time that a presidential candidate won more than a million votes in Oregon.

As of the2020 presidential election,this is the most recent election in whichJackson CountyandWasco Countyvoted for a Democratic presidential candidate, and the last time any Southern Oregon county sided with a Democrat.Marion County,which sided with Obama, would not vote Democratic again until 2020.

Primaries

• 2008 Oregon Democratic presidential primary
• 2008 Oregon Republican presidential primary

Campaign

Predictions

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

Source	Ranking
D.C. Political Report	Likely D
Cook Political Report	Solid D
The Takeaway	Solid D
Electoral-vote	Solid D
Washington Post	Solid D
Politico	Solid D
RealClearPolitics	Solid D
FiveThirtyEight	Solid D
CQ Politics	Solid D
The New York Times	Solid D
CNN	Safe D
NPR	Solid D
MSNBC	Solid D
Fox News	Likely D
Associated Press	Likely D
Rasmussen Reports	Safe D

Polling

Main article:Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election: Oregon

Obama won every single pre-election poll. Since September 22, Obama won each by a double-digit margin of victory and at least 52% of the vote. The final 3 polls showed Obama leading 55% to 41%.

Fundraising

McCain raised a total of $1,258,426 in the state. Obama raised $6,660,622.

Advertising and visits

Obama and his interest groups spent $1,194,908. McCain and his interest groups spent just $159,222.Neither campaign visited the state.

Analysis

Voters in Oregon have a strong penchant for advancing the protection ofcivil libertiesand individual freedoms,liberalvalues that have given Democrats a big edge in the state in recent years. The state once leaned Republican, like most of the Pacific Northwest. It only went Democratic once from1948to 1984—duringLyndon Johnson's 44-state landslide of1964.However, the state has gone Democratic in every election since1988,and along withCaliforniaandWashingtonit is reckoned as forming a solid bloc of blue states along the Pacific Coast.

On Election Day, Obama carried the state by 16.35 points. As Oregon was expected to be easily won by Obama, it was called for him as soon as the polls in the state closed. Besides Jackson County in the southwest and Wasco County in the central third, mostruralcounties in Oregon favored McCain in the 2008 election. Nevertheless, Obama performed much better in these regions thanJohn Kerryhad in 2004. Ultimately, Obama's strong support in the moreurbanWillamette Valley,home to two-thirds of the state's population, would have allowed him to win the state decisively in any event, coupled with the counties making up the northern half of theOregon Coast.The state remains geographically and politically divided by the Cascade Mountains, with eastern Oregon and the southwest being more rural, less populated and therefore strongly Republican, while the Willamette Valley is more urbanized and therefore strongly Democratic. These two areas compose the core of each party's votes: rural Oregon is strongly Republican and culturally similar toIdaho,while the Willamette Valley—especially the cities ofPortlandandEugene—heavily favors the Democrats.

While Republicans typically win more counties due to running up large margins in the east and southwest, Democrats typically win the state because the Willamette Valley has more people. In 2008, Obama's overwhelming margins in Portland and Eugene, combined with strong support from Portland's suburbs (which function as swing counties), enabled him to win a landslide in a structurally liberal state. Although Obama broke no decades-long Republican county streaks, he came within 0.49 percent of winningPolk Countyand 1.36 percent of winningYamhill County,neither of which have voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since1964.While not having carriedDeschutes County,Obama was only 0.31 percent away from winning it. Prior toJoe Bidenin 2020, this was the closest a Democratic candidate came to winning Deschutes County after the 1992 presidential election.

During the same election, Democratic Speaker of theOregon House of RepresentativesJeff Merkleydefeated incumbent RepublicanU.S. SenatorGordon Smithby a narrow 3.35% margin. Merkley received 48.90 percent of the vote while Smith took in 45.55 percent, with the remaining 5.24 percent going to Dave Brownlow of theConstitution Party.At the state level, Democrats picked up five seats in theOregon House of Representativeswhile Republicans picked up one seat in theOregon Senate.

Results

2008 United States presidential election in Oregon
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	1,037,291	56.75%	7
	Republican	John McCain	Sarah Palin	738,475	40.40%	0
	Peace	Ralph Nader	Matt Gonzalez	18,614	1.02%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins		13,613	0.74%	0
	Constitution	Chuck Baldwin	Darrell Castle	7,693	0.42%	0
	Libertarian	Bob Barr	Wayne Allyn Root	7,635	0.42%	0
	Pacific Green	Cynthia McKinney	Rosa Clemente	4,543	0.25%	0
Totals				1,827,864	100.00%	7
Voter turnout (Voting age population)						62.9%

Results by county

County	Barack Obama Democratic		John McCain Republican		Ralph Nader Peace		Charles Baldwin Constitution		Bob Barr Libertarian		Cynthia McKinney Pacific Green		Various candidates Write-ins		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Baker	2,805	31.96%	5,650	64.37%	106	1.21%	55	0.63%	51	0.58%	23	0.26%	87	0.99%	-2,845	-32.41%	8,777
Benton	29,901	64.33%	15,264	32.84%	427	0.92%	169	0.36%	214	0.46%	169	0.36%	334	0.72%	14,637	31.49%	46,478
Clackamas	103,476	53.93%	83,595	43.57%	1,750	0.91%	692	0.36%	717	0.37%	284	0.15%	1,364	0.71%	19,881	10.36%	191,878
Clatsop	10,701	57.69%	7,192	38.78%	249	1.34%	70	0.38%	101	0.54%	68	0.37%	167	0.90%	3,509	18.91%	18,548
Columbia	13,390	54.06%	10,413	42.04%	307	1.24%	202	0.82%	123	0.50%	74	0.30%	259	1.05%	2,977	12.02%	24,768
Coos	14,401	46.53%	15,354	49.61%	422	1.36%	204	0.66%	163	0.53%	103	0.33%	304	0.98%	-953	-3.08%	30,951
Crook	3,632	35.09%	6,371	61.54%	157	1.52%	37	0.36%	55	0.53%	24	0.23%	76	0.73%	-2,739	-26.45%	10,352
Curry	5,230	42.41%	6,646	53.89%	174	1.41%	83	0.67%	57	0.46%	26	0.21%	116	0.94%	-1,416	-11.48%	12,332
Deschutes	38,819	48.66%	39,064	48.96%	702	0.88%	259	0.32%	305	0.38%	129	0.16%	504	0.63%	-245	-0.30%	79,782
Douglas	20,298	38.34%	30,919	58.41%	561	1.06%	320	0.60%	217	0.41%	128	0.24%	494	0.93%	-10,621	-20.07%	52,937
Gilliam	430	38.74%	648	58.38%	16	1.44%	6	0.54%	2	0.18%	2	0.18%	6	0.54%	-218	-19.64%	1,110
Grant	1,006	25.74%	2,785	71.25%	30	0.77%	39	1.00%	15	0.38%	2	0.05%	32	0.82%	-1,779	-45.51%	3,909
Harney	950	25.79%	2,595	70.46%	51	1.38%	21	0.57%	29	0.79%	10	0.27%	27	0.73%	-1,645	-44.67%	3,683
Hood River	6,302	64.11%	3,265	33.21%	112	1.14%	44	0.45%	31	0.32%	21	0.21%	55	0.56%	3,037	30.90%	9,830
Jackson	49,090	48.58%	49,043	48.53%	844	0.84%	601	0.59%	425	0.42%	224	0.22%	820	0.81%	47	0.05%	101,047
Jefferson	3,682	44.27%	4,402	52.92%	100	1.20%	37	0.44%	22	0.26%	21	0.25%	54	0.65%	-720	-8.65%	8,318
Josephine	17,412	41.41%	22,973	54.63%	492	1.17%	379	0.90%	234	0.56%	135	0.32%	424	1.01%	-5,561	-13.22%	42,049
Klamath	9,370	31.87%	19,113	65.01%	300	1.02%	178	0.61%	174	0.59%	68	0.23%	196	0.67%	-9,743	-33.14%	29,399
Lake	957	25.95%	2,638	71.53%	38	1.03%	19	0.52%	11	0.30%	11	0.30%	14	0.38%	-1,681	-45.58%	3,688
Lane	114,037	62.35%	63,835	34.90%	1,836	1.00%	590	0.32%	754	0.41%	534	0.29%	1,324	0.72%	50,202	27.45%	182,910
Lincoln	14,258	59.68%	8,791	36.80%	334	1.40%	83	0.35%	127	0.53%	73	0.31%	223	0.93%	5,467	22.88%	23,889
Linn	22,163	42.64%	28,071	54.00%	625	1.20%	287	0.55%	237	0.46%	134	0.26%	465	0.89%	-5,908	-11.36%	51,982
Malheur	2,949	28.27%	7,157	68.60%	85	0.81%	81	0.78%	57	0.55%	28	0.27%	76	0.73%	-4,208	-40.33%	10,433
Marion	61,816	49.63%	59,059	47.41%	1,257	1.01%	551	0.44%	528	0.42%	328	0.26%	1,024	0.82%	2,757	2.22%	124,563
Morrow	1,410	34.75%	2,509	61.83%	43	1.06%	33	0.81%	23	0.57%	9	0.22%	31	0.76%	-1,099	-27.08%	4,058
Multnomah	279,696	76.69%	75,171	20.61%	4,166	1.14%	904	0.25%	1,195	0.33%	1,207	0.33%	2,371	0.65%	204,525	56.08%	364,710
Polk	17,536	48.43%	17,714	48.92%	320	0.88%	184	0.51%	116	0.32%	79	0.22%	258	0.71%	-178	-0.49%	36,207
Sherman	385	36.77%	634	60.55%	8	0.76%	6	0.57%	5	0.48%	1	0.10%	8	0.76%	-249	-23.78%	1,047
Tillamook	7,072	53.18%	5,757	43.30%	197	1.48%	59	0.44%	58	0.44%	42	0.32%	112	0.84%	1,315	9.88%	13,297
Umatilla	9,484	37.16%	15,254	59.77%	245	0.96%	166	0.65%	113	0.44%	56	0.22%	205	0.80%	-5,770	-22.61%	25,523
Union	4,613	36.63%	7,581	60.20%	119	0.94%	85	0.67%	63	0.50%	23	0.18%	110	0.87%	-2,968	-23.57%	12,594
Wallowa	1,492	33.42%	2,836	63.52%	35	0.78%	30	0.67%	24	0.54%	6	0.13%	42	0.94%	-1,344	-30.10%	4,465
Wasco	5,906	51.90%	5,103	44.84%	140	1.23%	61	0.54%	46	0.40%	31	0.27%	93	0.82%	803	7.06%	11,380
Washington	141,544	59.82%	89,185	37.69%	1,892	0.80%	895	0.38%	1,148	0.49%	379	0.16%	1,589	0.67%	52,359	22.13%	236,632
Wheeler	281	34.61%	498	61.33%	11	1.35%	5	0.62%	9	1.11%	1	0.12%	7	0.86%	-217	-26.72%	812
Yamhill	20,797	47.78%	21,390	49.14%	463	1.06%	258	0.59%	186	0.43%	90	0.21%	342	0.79%	-593	-1.36%	43,526
Totals	1,037,291	56.75%	738,475	40.40%	18,614	1.02%	7,693	0.42%	7,635	0.42%	4,543	0.25%	13,613	0.74%	298,816	16.35%	1,827,864

County Flips:

Democratic

Hold

Gain from Republican

Republican

Hold

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Clackamas(largest city:Lake Oswego)
• Jackson(largest city:Medford)
• Marion(largest city:Salem)
• Tillamook(largest city:Tillamook)
• Wasco(largest city:The Dalles)

Results by congressional district

Barack Obama carried four of the state’s five congressional districts in Oregon, all held by Democrats.

District	Obama	McCain	Representative
1st	61.03%	36.27%	David Wu
2nd	43.21%	53.86%	Greg Walden
3rd	71.39%	25.78%	Earl Blumenauer
4th	53.79%	43.08%	Peter DeFazio
5th	53.95%	43.33%	Darlene Hooley(110th Congress)
			Kurt Schrader(111th Congress)

Electors

Main article:List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Oregon cast their ballots for electors: representatives to theElectoral College.Oregon is allocated 7 electors because it has 5congressional districtsand 2senators.All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 7 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 7 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as afaithless elector.

The electors of each state and theDistrict of Columbiamet on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 7 were pledged toBarack ObamaandJoe Biden:

1. Michael Bohan
2. Shirley Cairns
3. Joe Smith
4. John McColgan
5. Meredith Wood Smith
6. Frank James Dixon
7. Bernard Gorter

See also

• United States presidential elections in Oregon
• Presidency of Barack Obama