2008 United States presidential election in Missouri

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Main article: 2008 United States presidential election
2008 United States presidential election in Missouri
← 2004 November 4, 2008 2012 →
  John McCain 2009 Official.jpg Obama portrait crop.jpg
Nominee John McCain Barack Obama
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Arizona Illinois
Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden
Electoral vote 11 0
Popular vote 1,445,814 1,441,911
Percentage 49.36% 49.23%
Missouri Presidential Election Results 2008.svg
County Results
President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elections in Missouri
Federal government
State government
Ballot measures
Columbia
Kansas City
Springfield
St. Louis
  • v
  • t

The 2008 United States presidential election in Missouri was held on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election, which took place throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Missouri was won by Republican nominee John McCain by 3,903 votes, a 0.13% margin of victory. Prior to the election, most news organizations considered this state a toss-up, or a swing state. On election day, Missouri was the closest state in 2008, with some news organizations not calling the state until two weeks after the election. A high turnout of voters in the GOP strongholds of Greene County (Springfield) and St. Charles County, combined with Democrat Barack Obama's lackluster performance in the more rural parts of the state, gave the edge to McCain. The state was so close that Obama could have legally called for a recount, but since he had already won the presidency, he saw no need to do so as the results would not have changed the election outcome. It was the first time since 1956, and only the second time since 1900, that Missouri did not vote for the winner of the presidency. Obama also became the first-ever Democrat to win the White House without winning Missouri. The same would also occur four years later, when Mitt Romney won the state over Obama, and again when Donald Trump carried the state over Joe Biden in 2020.

Combined with the state's swing to the right in 2000 and 2004 and the further bleeding of Democratic support in white, rural areas, this would be the last time when Missouri was seriously contested and considered to be a swing/bellwether state. This is the first time since 1980 that Missouri voted to the right of North Carolina. The state continued moving deeper and safer into the Republican side four years later and onward, and as such, this is the most recent election when the Republican candidate won less than 50% of the state's popular vote. This was also the last time that Iron County, Jefferson County, Washington County, Ste. Genevieve County, and Buchanan County voted for the Democratic candidate. Nevertheless, Obama's 1,441,911 votes is the most received by a Democratic presidential candidate in the state's history.

Primaries[]

Campaign[]

With the advent of the September financial crisis, Obama began to look viable. John McCain's lead diminished and then disappeared; for several weeks Obama even led Missouri polls.[1] Obama started visiting Republican-leaning states, including Missouri. In one of the more memorable trips of the campaign, he drew crowds of 75,000 at Kansas City and 100,000 at St. Louis.[2] However, John McCain's campaign managed to close the gap and most polls showed a dead tie on and before Election Day.

Although seven of Missouri's eight neighboring states offered the option of early voting, the option was not available in Missouri.[3] Election results must go through a certification process before they are official; local election officials had until November 18 to verify their results and process the provisional ballots cast throughout Missouri.[3]

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[4] Likely R
Cook Political Report[5] Toss-up
The Takeaway[6] Toss-up
Electoral-vote.com[7] Lean R
Washington Post[8] Lean R
Politico[9] Lean R
RealClearPolitics[10] Toss-up
FiveThirtyEight[8] Lean R
CQ Politics[11] Toss-up
The New York Times[12] Toss-up
CNN[13] Toss-up
NPR[8] Lean R
MSNBC[8] Toss-up
Fox News[14] Toss-up
Associated Press[15] Toss-up
Rasmussen Reports[16] Toss-up

Polling[]

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

Throughout the general election, McCain consistently won the state's pre-election polls, even reaching above 50% in some of them. In the fall campaign, polls were back and forth with both. In the last few weeks when Obama was having the momentum, the final 5 polls taken in the state were all a tie.[17]

Here are the final polls in the state:

Poll Source Date administered Democrat % Republican % Lead Margin
Reuters/Zogby October 31-
November 3, 2008 		Barack Obama 48.8% John McCain 48.8%
0
Rasmussen Reports/
Fox News 		November 2, 2008 Barack Obama 49% John McCain 49%
0
Public Policy Polling October 31 – November 2, 2008 Barack Obama 49.4% John McCain 48.6%
0.8
Reuters/Zogby October 30-
November 2, 2008 		Barack Obama 47.4% John McCain 45.7%
1.7
Survey USA October 30 – November 2, 2008 Barack Obama 48% John McCain 48%
0

Fundraising[]

John McCain raised a total of $2,904,162 in the state. Barack Obama raised $4,999,812.[18]

Advertising and visits[]

Obama and his interest groups spent $11,323,706. McCain and his interest groups spent $9,428,559.[19]

The Democratic ticket visited the state 13 times throughout the general election. The Republican ticket visited here 14 times.[20]

McCain's Visits:

  • June 18: Springfield[21]
  • July 15: St. Louis
  • July 17: Kansas City[22]
  • July 30: Kansas City[23]
  • August 31: St. Louis
  • October 8: Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin campaigned in Cape Girardeau at the Show-Me Center on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University in an effort to reach out to the base of the GOP.

Obama's Visits:

  • May 13: During the course of the ongoing Democratic Presidential Primary, Obama visited Thorngate factory in Cape Girardeau in Southeast Missouri alongside U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill to speak to a group of factory workers. These blue-collar, working-class whites were a voting bloc that strongly backed Hillary Clinton throughout the primary.
  • June 9 – 10: St. Louis[24]
  • June 30: Independence[25]
  • July 5: St. Louis[26]
  • July 7: St. Louis (unscheduled; plane maintenance)[27]
  • July 30: Springfield, Rolla, Union[23]
  • August 25, 26: Kansas City
  • October 18: St. Louis
  • October 30: Columbia[28][29]
  • November 1: Springfield[30]

Analysis[]

For the better part of a century, Missouri was considered to be the nation's prime bellwether state. From 1904 to 2004, Missouri voted for the winner in every presidential election except 1956, when the state narrowly voted for Democrat Adlai Stevenson of neighboring Illinois over incumbent Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In recent years, however, it has trended Republican. Although Bill Clinton of neighboring Arkansas won the state with ease during both of his elections in 1992 and 1996, Al Gore and John Kerry considered the Show-Me State a lost cause and did not campaign much there. Despite being from neighboring Illinois, Obama too initially put the state as a secondary concern in relation to other swing states such as Ohio and Virginia where he thought he had a better chance. As his lead diminished in the summer months, he and McCain moved the campaign to more Democratic-friendly states, as McCain maintained a comfortable polling lead in Missouri. Similar hypothetical general match-up polls taken between McCain and Hillary Clinton, however, showed Clinton always leading in Missouri.

A record 2.9 million Missourians, or 69% of eligible voters, cast their ballots in the general election, about 200,000 more than the previous record in the 2004 elections.[31] On Election Day, McCain clung to a tiny lead, with absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted. By November 19, McCain led Obama by 1,445,813–1,441,910 votes,[3] or approximately 0.14% of the total popular vote in Missouri. CNN called the state for McCain that day.[32] The 2008 election was only the second time in 104 years that it had not voted for the winner of the general election. Missouri was, however, the closest state of the 2008 election.

The Democratic base of Missouri rests in its two largest cities in the west and east – Kansas City and St. Louis, respectively. Obama did extremely well here, winning 83.55% of the vote in St. Louis City and 78.4% in Kansas City. Obama was already a familiar face to St. Louis-area voters, since the St. Louis metro area spills into Illinois. McCain narrowly won the areas in Jackson County outside Kansas City with 49.9% to Obama's 48.8%, but Obama carried the county with 62.14% of the vote due to his strong performance in Kansas City. These two counties, combined with highly affluent and suburban St. Louis County (where he also won 59.50% of the vote), gave him a 300,000 margin over McCain.[33] Obama was also able to carry Boone County, home to the large college town of Columbia (Missouri's fifth-largest city and home of the state's flagship University of Missouri campus), and Jefferson County, which consists of the southern St. Louis suburbs such as Arnold and Festus. George W. Bush narrowly won Jefferson County in 2004 over John Kerry.

However, Obama was unable to substantially improve on Kerry's performance in rural Missouri, which is largely responsible for Missouri's Republican tilt. During the 2008 Missouri Democratic Primary, every rural county in Missouri (with the exception of Nodaway County, home of Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville in Northwestern Missouri), strongly backed Hillary Clinton, often by more than two-to-one margins. Many, if not all, of these counties that Clinton won in the Missouri Primary ended up voting for McCain in the general election. A number of these counties are ancestrally Democratic. However, these counties are very similar in character to Yellow Dog Democrat areas in neighboring Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The Democrats in these areas are nowhere near as liberal as their counterparts in St. Louis and Kansas City, and much like their counterparts in neighboring Tennessee and Arkansas, had become increasingly willing to support Republicans at the national level.

Obama lost by an almost two-to-one margin in Southwest Missouri, a Republican stronghold for the better part of a century. This region is entrenched in the Bible Belt and embedded with deep pockets of social conservatives that includes Springfield and Joplin. Even Bill Clinton could not win Southwest Missouri in 1992 despite the fact that he won the state by double digits. Rural Northern Missouri voted against Obama by a three-to-two margin; this region warmly supported Bill Clinton in both of his bids. Obama also lost much of rural Southeast Missouri. Unlike Northern and Southwest Missouri, Southeast Missouri, which strongly backed Bill Clinton both times, is more Democratic at the local and state levels. The region takes in the Lead Belt, the Bootheel and the Ozark Plateau and includes the largest city of Cape Girardeau, a booming college town but also a conservative, upper-middle class community that votes overwhelmingly Republican. Southeast Missouri is socially conservative but economically liberal, consistently electing Democrats at the local and state levels. While Obama ran even in the area southwest of St. Louis, he did worse than John Kerry in the Bootheel.[33] Obama was, however, able to pick up two counties in Southeast Missouri: Washington County (by a margin of five votes) and Iron County. Both counties are predominantly rural and White but are some of the most impoverished counties in the state that are controlled by Democrats at the local and state levels. Both counties gave Hillary Clinton over 70% of the vote in the Missouri Primary as well.

Obama was allowed to request a recount under state law since preliminary results showed a difference of less than 1% of the votes. The request would have had to be granted by the state.[34] However, since Obama already won the election and Missouri would not have affected the outcome, he ultimately did not request one. As of 2020, this is the closest a Northern Democrat has come to winning Missouri since John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts did so in 1960, as the previous three Democratic presidential candidates to win the state were all from the South (Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, Jimmy Carter of Georgia, and Bill Clinton of Arkansas).

This was the first presidential election that a Democrat won without winning the state of Missouri, a feat Obama would repeat in 2012, as well as his former running mate Joe Biden in 2020.

During the same election, Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon defeated U.S. Representative Kenny Hulshof in a landslide for the Governor's Mansion. Incumbent Republican Governor Matt Blunt did not seek a second term. Nixon performed extremely well in rural Missouri and clinched 58.40% of the total statewide vote compared to Hulshof's 39.49% to become Governor of Missouri. Republicans were, however, able to hold on to the U.S. House seat in Missouri's 9th Congressional District that was vacated by Hulshof in his unsuccessful gubernatorial bid. Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer narrowly defeated Democrat Judy Baker by less than 3 percentage points, in large part due to McCain winning it by 11 points. At the state level, Democrats picked up three seats in the Missouri House of Representatives but Republicans expanded their majority in the Missouri Senate, picking up three seats here. Furthermore, upon the 2008 election, Democrats control all statewide offices but one – Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder is a Republican. Democrats held on to the office of Attorney General that was vacated by Governor Jay Nixon; Democrat Chris Koster defeated Republican Mike Gibbons 52.83% to 47.17%. Democrats also picked up the office of State Treasurer that was vacated by Republican Sarah Steelman in her unsuccessful bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Democrat Clint Zweifel defeated Republican Brad Lager 50.47% to 47.14%.

Results[]

2008 United States presidential election in Missouri[35]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 1,445,814 49.36% 11
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 1,441,911 49.23% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 17,813 0.61% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 11,386 0.39% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 8,201 0.28% 0
Write-ins Write-ins 3,906 0.13% 0
Green (write-in) Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 80 0.00% 0
Totals 2,929,111 100.00% 11
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 66.1%

Results breakdown[]

By county[]

County Obama% Obama# McCain% McCain# Others% Others# Total
Adair 48.31% 5,735 49.63% 5,891 2.06% 245 11,871
Andrew 38.05% 3,345 60.06% 5,279 1.89% 166 8,790
Atchison 33.60% 1,000 65.05% 1,936 1.34% 40 2,976
Audrain 41.13% 4,434 57.20% 6,167 1.67% 180 10,781
Barry 31.62% 4,630 66.63% 9,758 1.75% 256 14,644
Barton 24.46% 1,455 74.21% 4,414 1.33% 79 5,948
Bates 39.49% 3,271 58.35% 4,833 2.16% 179 8,283
Benton 37.93% 3,629 60.20% 5,759 1.87% 179 9,567
Bollinger 29.22% 1,690 68.67% 3,972 2.11% 122 5,784
Boone 55.20% 47,062 43.22% 36,849 1.57% 1,340 85,251
Buchanan 49.09% 19,164 48.95% 19,110 1.96% 766 39,040
Butler 30.66% 5,316 68.08% 11,805 1.26% 218 17,339
Caldwell 39.75% 1,814 58.15% 2,654 2.10% 96 4,564
Callaway 40.07% 7,850 58.13% 11,389 1.80% 352 19,591
Camden 35.12% 7,773 63.59% 14,074 1.29% 286 22,133
Cape Girardeau 32.68% 12,208 66.30% 24,768 1.01% 379 37,355
Carroll 33.83% 1,535 65.12% 2,955 1.06% 48 4,538
Carter 33.95% 984 63.49% 1,840 2.55% 74 2,898
Cass 39.55% 19,844 59.18% 29,695 1.28% 640 50,179
Cedar 32.42% 2,060 66.01% 4,194 1.57% 100 6,354
Chariton 42.69% 1,799 55.51% 2,339 1.80% 76 4,214
Christian 31.52% 11,883 67.33% 25,382 1.15% 432 37,697
Clark 45.49% 1,572 51.56% 1,782 2.95% 102 3,456
Clay 49.05% 53,761 49.74% 54,516 1.21% 1,329 109,606
Clinton 43.48% 4,545 54.61% 5,709 1.91% 200 10,454
Cole 36.03% 13,959 62.94% 24,385 1.03% 401 38,745
Cooper 37.33% 2,996 61.08% 4,902 1.59% 128 8,026
Crawford 38.78% 3,911 59.56% 6,007 1.66% 167 10,085
Dade 28.79% 1,184 69.65% 2,864 1.56% 64 4,112
Dallas 34.57% 2,656 63.71% 4,895 1.72% 132 7,683
Daviess 36.98% 1,400 59.77% 2,263 3.25% 123 3,786
DeKalb 36.13% 1,692 61.69% 2,889 2.18% 102 4,683
Dent 29.94% 2,056 67.78% 4,655 2.29% 157 6,868
Douglas 31.88% 2,140 65.63% 4,405 2.49% 167 6,712
Dunklin 38.59% 4,540 59.88% 7,044 1.53% 180 11,764
Franklin 43.12% 21,256 55.49% 27,355 1.38% 682 49,293
Gasconade 37.31% 2,899 61.29% 4,763 1.40% 109 7,771
Gentry 37.52% 1,235 59.66% 1,964 2.83% 93 3,292
Greene 41.40% 56,181 57.25% 77,683 1.35% 1,831 135,695
Grundy 33.33% 1,580 63.42% 3,006 3.25% 154 4,740
Harrison 32.87% 1,287 64.16% 2,512 2.96% 116 3,915
Henry 43.63% 4,869 54.62% 6,095 1.75% 195 11,159
Hickory 42.44% 2,171 55.72% 2,850 1.84% 94 5,115
Holt 30.46% 802 68.14% 1,794 1.41% 37 2,633
Howard 41.94% 2,036 55.78% 2,708 2.29% 111 4,855
Howell 33.68% 5,736 64.49% 10,982 1.83% 311 17,029
Iron 50.14% 2,213 47.35% 2,090 2.51% 111 4,414
Jackson 62.37% 210,824 36.89% 124,687 0.74% 2,492 338,003
Jasper 32.75% 15,730 65.94% 31,667 1.31% 628 48,025
Jefferson 50.58% 53,467 48.06% 50,804 1.36% 1,433 105,704
Johnson 42.93% 9,480 55.18% 12,183 1.89% 417 22,080
Knox 37.50% 759 59.88% 1,212 2.62% 53 2,024
Laclede 31.97% 5,218 66.62% 10,875 1.41% 230 16,323
Lafayette 41.58% 6,902 56.88% 9,442 1.54% 256 16,600
Lawrence 30.64% 5,097 67.70% 11,263 1.66% 277 16,637
Lewis 40.80% 1,837 57.62% 2,594 1.58% 71 4,502
Lincoln 43.46% 10,234 54.88% 12,924 1.66% 392 23,550
Linn 44.48% 2,638 52.94% 3,140 2.58% 153 5,931
Livingston 37.16% 2,435 60.94% 3,993 1.89% 124 6,552
Macon 37.25% 2,784 61.36% 4,586 1.39% 104 7,474
Madison 40.61% 2,042 57.62% 2,897 1.77% 89 5,028
Maries 35.16% 1,599 62.73% 2,853 2.11% 96 4,548
Marion 37.47% 4,703 61.38% 7,705 1.16% 145 12,553
McDonald 30.17% 2,454 67.60% 5,499 2.24% 182 8,135
Mercer 29.69% 519 66.88% 1,169 3.43% 60 1,748
Miller 30.80% 3,553 67.59% 7,797 1.60% 185 11,535
Mississippi 41.95% 2,247 56.65% 3,034 1.40% 75 5,356
Moniteau 31.17% 2,084 66.82% 4,467 2.00% 134 6,685
Monroe 39.48% 1,703 58.72% 2,533 1.81% 78 4,314
Montgomery 40.08% 2,347 58.54% 3,428 1.38% 81 5,856
Morgan 38.97% 3,565 59.58% 5,451 1.45% 133 9,149
New Madrid 41.65% 3,370 56.76% 4,593 1.59% 129 8,092
Newton 29.32% 7,450 69.42% 17,637 1.26% 319 25,406
Nodaway 43.97% 4,493 54.49% 5,568 1.55% 158 10,219
Oregon 39.45% 1,811 57.77% 2,652 2.79% 128 4,591
Osage 26.94% 1,907 71.51% 5,062 1.55% 110 7,079
Ozark 35.45% 1,661 62.27% 2,918 2.28% 107 4,686
Pemiscot 42.98% 3,029 56.11% 3,954 0.91% 64 7,047
Perry 34.75% 3,005 63.92% 5,527 1.33% 115 8,647
Pettis 38.07% 6,932 60.51% 11,018 1.42% 258 18,208
Phelps 38.04% 7,394 60.22% 11,706 1.74% 338 19,438
Pike 44.25% 3,487 54.16% 4,268 1.60% 126 7,881
Platte 46.17% 21,459 52.62% 24,460 1.21% 561 46,480
Polk 33.24% 4,553 65.39% 8,956 1.37% 188 13,697
Pulaski 34.99% 5,249 63.68% 9,552 1.33% 199 15,000
Putnam 29.71% 695 68.02% 1,591 2.27% 53 2,339
Ralls 40.15% 2,041 58.75% 2,987 1.10% 56 5,084
Randolph 37.50% 3,984 60.78% 6,457 1.72% 183 10,624
Ray 47.42% 5,241 50.60% 5,593 1.98% 219 11,053
Reynolds 43.15% 1,417 54.20% 1,780 2.65% 87 3,284
Ripley 33.47% 1,795 63.53% 3,407 3.00% 161 5,363
Saline 47.85% 4,712 50.39% 4,962 1.77% 174 9,848
Schuyler 39.08% 775 57.44% 1,139 3.48% 69 1,983
Scotland 37.80% 793 59.53% 1,249 2.67% 56 2,098
Scott 34.72% 6,258 64.15% 11,563 1.14% 205 18,026
Shannon 42.65% 1,637 54.06% 2,075 3.28% 126 3,838
Shelby 33.59% 1,114 65.32% 2,166 1.09% 36 3,316
St. Charles 44.65% 84,183 54.39% 102,550 0.95% 1,796 188,529
St. Clair 37.81% 1,886 59.76% 2,981 2.43% 121 4,988
St. Francois 47.01% 11,540 51.57% 12,660 1.43% 350 24,550
St. Louis 59.50% 333,123 39.60% 221,705 0.90% 5,026 559,854
Ste. Genevieve 56.42% 4,979 42.29% 3,732 1.29% 114 8,825
Stoddard 29.40% 3,899 69.16% 9,172 1.44% 191 13,262
Stone 30.69% 5,029 68.02% 11,147 1.29% 211 16,387
Sullivan 40.89% 1,173 56.01% 1,607 3.10% 89 2,869
Taney 30.85% 6,683 68.02% 14,736 1.13% 245 21,664
Texas 31.43% 3,410 66.49% 7,215 2.08% 226 10,851
Vernon 38.08% 3,381 60.08% 5,334 1.84% 163 8,878
Warren 43.05% 6,705 55.69% 8,675 1.26% 196 15,576
Washington 49.00% 4,711 48.95% 4,706 2.05% 197 9,614
Wayne 36.52% 2,243 61.61% 3,784 1.87% 115 6,142
Webster 34.76% 5,685 63.77% 10,431 1.47% 240 16,356
Worth 36.37% 427 60.22% 707 3.41% 40 1,174
Wright 30.03% 2,557 67.94% 5,784 2.03% 173 8,514
St. Louis 83.68% 132,925 15.52% 24,662 0.80% 1,271 158,858

By congressional district[]

John McCain carried six of the state's nine congressional districts, including one district held by a Democrat.

District McCain Obama Representative
1st 19.38% 79.70% William Lacy Clay, Jr.
2nd 54.98% 44.04% Todd Akin
3rd 39.06% 59.50% Russ Carnahan
4th 60.58% 37.87% Ike Skelton
5th 35.45% 63.47% Emanuel Cleaver
6th 53.58% 44.67% Sam Graves
7th 63.07% 35.39% Roy Blunt
8th 61.92% 36.42% Jo Ann Emerson
9th 54.77% 43.66% Kenny Hulshof (110th Congress)
Blaine Luetkemeyer (111th Congress)

Electors[]

Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Missouri cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Missouri is allocated 11 electors because it has 9 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 11 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 11 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.[36] An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met 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 11 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:[37]

  1. Willis Corbett
  2. Scott Dickenson
  3. Robert Haul
  4. Ronny Margason
  5. Cathy Owens
  6. Ron Muck
  7. Gene Hall
  8. R. Mellene Schudy
  9. Nadine Thurman
  10. Paul Nahon
  11. Jerry Dowell

See also[]

References[]

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  2. ^ Powell, Michael; Michael Cooper (October 18, 2008). "Day's Campaigning Shows an Inverted Political Plane". New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c U.S. President And Vice President Archived November 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine from the website of the Missouri Secretary of State
  4. ^ "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". web.archive.org. January 1, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  5. ^ "Presidential". web.archive.org. May 5, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  6. ^ "Vote 2008 - The Takeaway - Track the Electoral College vote predictions". web.archive.org. April 22, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  7. ^ "Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily". electoral-vote.com. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Based on Takeaway
  9. ^ "POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com". www.politico.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  10. ^ http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/?map=5
  11. ^ "CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
  12. ^ Nagourney, Adam; Zeleny, Jeff; Carter, Shan (November 4, 2008). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  13. ^ "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. October 31, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  14. ^ "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
  15. ^ "roadto270". hosted.ap.org. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  16. ^ "Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™". www.rasmussenreports.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  17. ^ Election 2008 Polls – Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
  18. ^ "Presidential Campaign Finance". Archived from the original on March 24, 2009. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
  19. ^ "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  20. ^ "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  21. ^ McCain visits Springfield today | News-Leader.com | Springfield News-Leader[permanent dead link]
  22. ^ "John McCain 2008 – John McCain for President". Archived from the original on July 15, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b "kwmu NewsRoom". Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved July 29, 2008.
  24. ^ Political Fix » Blog Archive » Obama planning to campaign two days in Missouri
  25. ^ http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/686290.html
  26. ^ St. Louis Ticket Broker | St Louis Cardinals & St Louis Blues Tickets | Mizzou Football Tickets from The Ticket Guys
  27. ^ http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/politics&id=6249360[permanent dead link]
  28. ^ The Maneater – Obama revs up MU
  29. ^ "Obama visits MU – Columbia Missourian". Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  30. ^ http://ozarksfirst.com/content/fulltext/?cid=77101[permanent dead link]
  31. ^ Carnahan Announces Record Number of Missourians Cast Ballots in General Election from the website of the Missouri Secretary of State
  32. ^ "McCain wins Missouri; State's streak over!". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  33. ^ Jump up to: a b "Election Results 2008". New York Times. Archived from the original on November 3, 2004. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  34. ^ Recount Law In Missouri, a February 2008 blog entry from The Atlantic by associate editor Marc Ambinder
  35. ^ "Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections 2008- Missouri". Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  36. ^ "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
  37. ^ Presidential electors 2008, MO Republican Party
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