2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries

2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries

← 2008 January 3 to June 5, 2012 2016 →

Candidate Barack Obama Uncommitted John Wolfe Jr. Home state Illinois N/A Tennessee Delegate count 3,166 72 0 (23) Contests won 56 0 0 Popular vote 6,158,064 426,336 117,033 Percentage 88.9% 6.1% 1.7%

Barack Obama

Previous Democratic nominee Barack Obama Democratic nominee Barack Obama

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This article is part of a series about Barack Obama
Political positions Electoral history Early life and career Family Public image Honors Pre-presidency Illinois State Senator 2004 DNC keynote address U.S. Senator from Illinois sponsored bills 44th President of the United States Presidency timeline Transition Inaugurations first second Policies Economy Energy Foreign policy Europe East Asia Middle East South Asia Obama Doctrine foreign trips Pardons Social Space Appointments Cabinet Judiciary Sotomayor Kagan Garland Supreme Court candidates First term First 100 days Recovery Act Russia nuclear treaty Affordable Care Act Dodd–Frank Iraq withdrawal Killing of Osama bin Laden Libya intervention Afghanistan withdrawal Benghazi attack Timeline '09 '10 '11 '12 Second term Anti-ISIL campaign Iraq Syria Iran nuclear deal Cuban thaw Sanctions against Russia Selma 50th anniversary speech Obergefell v. Hodges Paris Agreement Kunduz hospital airstrike Timeline '13 '14 '15 '16–'17 Presidential campaigns 2008 primaries convention debates election 2012 primaries convention debates election reactions Post-presidency Planned presidential library Obama Foundation One America Appeal Dreams from My Father The Audacity of Hope A Promised Land Nobel Peace Prize Others Thanks, Obama
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From January 3 to June 5, 2012, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 2012 United States presidential election. President Barack Obama won the Democratic Party nomination by securing more than the required 2,383 delegates on April 3, 2012, after a series of primary elections and caucuses. He was formally nominated by the 2012 Democratic National Convention on September 5, 2012, in Charlotte, North Carolina.^[1]

Primary race overview[]

The general expectation was that, with President Barack Obama having the advantage of incumbency and being the only viable candidate running, the race would be merely pro forma. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders reportedly considered challenging Obama in the primaries but decided not to run after then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid talked him out of it.^[2]

Several of the lesser-known candidates made efforts to raise visibility. Some Occupy movement activists made an attempt to take over the Iowa caucuses,^[3] and got about 2% of the vote for Uncommitted. With nine minor candidates on the ballot in New Hampshire, there was a debate at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire on December 19, 2011,^[4] in which seven candidates participated. Pro-life activist Randall Terry bought time on television in order to show graphic commercials denouncing abortion.^[5]

Three candidates – other than Obama – who had been on the ballot in New Hampshire were also on the ballot in Missouri. One such candidate, Randall Terry, attempted to air graphic TV commercials during Super Bowl XLIV, but was met with resistance from various TV stations^[6][7] in some locations. The Democratic National Committee also tried to stop the ads by claiming that Terry was not a legitimate Democratic candidate even though he was legally on the ballot.^[8]

A number of partisans of Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, challenging the legitimacy of Obama's birthright citizenship, attempted to have the President's name removed from the Georgia primary ballot. A state administrative judge upheld a subpoena, which was ignored by the President and his staff.^[9] In February 2012, the activists' legal challenge was rejected by a Georgia state law judge and by the Secretary of State of Georgia, and Obama remained listed on the primary ballot.^[10][11]

On May 8, 2012, Keith Russell Judd, an inmate serving a 17.5-year sentence, won 41% of the primary vote in West Virginia against incumbent Barack Obama, a higher percentage of the vote in one state than any other primary opponent of Obama had hitherto achieved in 2012.^[12][13] Shortly thereafter, attorney John Wolfe, Jr. won 42% of the primary vote in Arkansas after widespread speculation that Wolfe could possibly pull off an upset of the state.^[14]

Challengers to President Obama only qualified for the ballot in eight states – New Hampshire, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Alaska – while a ninth (Ohio) was going to have Randall Terry on the ballot, but removed his name before the ballots were printed. Randall Terry also attempted to contest the Kansas caucus, but was denied a spot on the caucus ballot after the state's Democratic Party determined that he didn't meet the requirements.^[15]

Darcy Richardson suspended his bid for the nomination on April 28, 2012. He still appeared on the ballot in Texas and was an eligible write-in candidate in California after suspending his campaign.^[16]

Four states canceled their respective Democratic primaries altogether, citing Obama being the only candidate to qualify on their respective ballot: Connecticut,^[17] Delaware,^[18] New York,^[19] and Virginia.^[20]

Despite the limited opposition and ultimately receiving 100% of the pledged delegates, Obama's total percentage of the national popular primary vote was the lowest of any incumbent since the contested 1992 election when George H. W. Bush was challenged by Pat Buchanan.

Performance of losing candidates[]

Obama was on the ballot in all states, where he ran mostly unopposed. In addition to Obama, the following table lists those candidates that attained ballot status in at least one state,^[21] as well as those states that listed "Uncommitted"^[22] or "No Preference"^[23] as an option:

Candidate		Votes	Delegates	States on ballot
	"Uncommitted" or "No Preference"	426,336	72	9 (AL, DC, KY, MA, MD, MI, MO, MT, NC, RI, TN)
	John Wolfe, Jr.	117,033	0 (23)	5 (AR, LA, MO, NH, TX)
	Darcy Richardson	109,764	0	5 (LA, MO, NH, OK, TX)
	Keith Russell Judd[24]	73,138	0 (1)	1 (WV)
	Bob Ely	29,947	0	4 (LA, NH, OK, TX)
	Randall Terry	22,734	0 (7)	4 (AK, MO, NH, OK)
	Jim Rogers	15,535	0 (3)	1 (OK)
	Ed Cowan	945	0	1 (NH)
	Vermin Supreme	833	0	1 (NH)
	John D. Haywood	423	0	1 (NH)
	Craig Freis	400	0	1 (NH)
	Cornelius Edward O'Connor	266	0	1 (NH)
	Edward T. O'Donnell	222	0	1 (NH)
	Bob Greene	213	0	1 (NH)
	Scott W. Stey	155	0	1 (NH)
	Aldous C. Tyler	106	0	1 (NH)

Counties carried[]

Candidates[]

Nominee[]

Candidate			Most recent office	Home state	Campaign	Popular vote	Contests won	Running mate
Barack Obama			44th President of the United States (2009–2017) Incumbent	Illinois	(Campaign • Positions)	6,158,064 (88.9%)	56	Joe Biden

Withdrew during primaries[]

• 

  Perennial candidate and prisoner Keith Russell Judd of Texas

• 

  Pro-life activist Randall Terry of West Virginia
  (website)

• 

  Author Darcy Richardson of Florida
  (website)

• 

  Perennial candidate and 2010 Democratic US Senate nominee of Oklahoma

• 

  Performance artist Vermin Supreme of New Hampshire
  (website)

• 

  Attorney and perennial candidate John Wolfe Jr. of Tennessee
  (website)

Delegate allocation[]

The number of pledged delegates allocated to each of the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. is based on two main factors: (1) the proportion of votes each state gave to the Democratic candidate in the last three presidential elections, and (2) the number of electoral votes each state has in the United States Electoral College. In addition, fixed numbers of delegates are allocated to Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Democrats Abroad under the party's delegate selection rules.^[25] Depending on each state's law and each state's party rules, when voters cast ballots for a candidate in a presidential caucus or primary, they may be voting to actually award delegates bound to vote for a particular candidate at the state or national convention (binding primary or caucus), or they may simply be expressing an opinion that the state party is not bound to follow in selecting delegates to the national convention (non-binding primary or caucus).

States are awarded bonus pledged delegates if they schedule their primary or caucus later in the primary season. Those states with April dates are awarded a 10 percent increase, while those who schedule from May 1 to June 12 get a 20 percent increase. And starting on March 20, a 15 percent bonus is awarded when clusters of three or more neighboring states begin on the same day.^[25]

The unpledged superdelegates included members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate, state and territorial governors, members of the Democratic National Committee, and other party leaders. Because of possible deaths, resignations, or the results of intervening or special elections, the final number of these superdelegates was not known until the week of the convention.

Some delegates committed to candidates other than the President were not permitted to be elected in contested primaries for administrative reasons.^[26][27][28]

Calendar[]

Primary schedule[]

The date for the first determining step for election of pledged delegates, is listed for each of the 56 constituencies. Northern Mariana Islands caucuses were only organized for Republicans and not for Democrats in 2012.

Date in 2012[29]	State or territory	Type[29]	Pledged delegates	Super-delegates	Total delegates[25]	Votes for Obama	Votes for other candidates	Source
January 3	Iowa	nonbinding caucus	54	11	65	8,064 (98.9%)	88 (1.1%)	[30]
January 10	New Hampshire	semi-closed primary	28	7	35	49,080 (81.3%)	11,295 (18.7%)	[31]
January 21	Nevada	nonbinding caucus	36	8	44	(98.3%)	(1.7%)	[32]
January 28	South Carolina	open primary	56	6	62	(100%)*	(0%)
February 7	Missouri	primary	89	13	102	64,435 (88.4%)	8,453 (11.6%)	[33]
March 6	Oklahoma	primary	45	5	50	64,389 (57.1%)	48,382 (42.9%)2	[34]
March 6	Massachusetts	primary	110	26	136	127,909 (86.5%)	19,964 (13.5%)	[35]
March 6	Colorado	caucus	72	14	86	(100%)*	(0%)
March 6	Ohio	primary	174	17	191	542,086 (100%)*	(0%)	[36]
March 6	Tennessee	primary	82	9	91	80,705 (88.5%)	10,504 (11.5%)	[37]
March 6	Georgia	primary	110	14	124	139,273 (100%)*	(0%)	[38]
March 6	Virginia	primary	106	18	124	(0%)#	(0%)
March 6	Vermont	primary	18	9	27	40,247 (98.4%)	675 (1.6%)	[39]
March 6	American Samoa	caucus	6	6	12
March 6-31	Maine	convention	106	18	124
March 6-April 8	Minnesota	convention	91	16	107	16,733 (96.3%)	643 (3.7%)	[40]
March 7	Hawaii	caucus	26	9	35	1,316 (96.91%)	42 (3.09%)	[41]
March 13	Alabama	primary	63	6	69	241,167 (84.09%)	45,613 (15.91%)	[42]
March 13	Mississippi	primary	40	5	45	97,304 (100%)*	(0%)	[43]
March 13	Utah	caucus	29	5	34	(100%)*	(0%)
March 20	Illinois	primary	189	26	215	652,583 (>99.99%)	134 (<0.01%)	[44]
March 24	Louisiana	primary	64	8	72	115,150 (76.46%)	35,451 (23.54%)	[45]
March 31	Arizona	caucuses	70	10	80	(100%)*	(0%)	[46]
April 3	District of Columbia	primary	22	23	45	56,503 (97.4%)	1,486 (2.6%)	[47]
April 3	Maryland	primary	97	27	124	288,766 (88.5%)	37,704 (11.5%)	[48]
April 3	Wisconsin	primary	100	11	111	293,914 (97.9%)	6,341 (2.1%)	[49]
April 10–14	Alaska	caucus	19	5	24	500 (100%)	(0%)	[50]
April 14	Nebraska	caucus	38	6	44	*63,881 (100%)	(0%)	[51]
April 14	Kansas	convention	49	4	53
April 14	Wyoming	caucus	18	4	22
April 14	Idaho	caucus	27	4	31
April 15	Washington	caucus	105	15	120
April 21	Texas	convention	260	27	287	520, 410 (88.2%)	69,754 (11.8%)	[52]
April 24	Connecticut	primary	73	15	88	(0%)#	(0%)
April 24	New York	primary	337	47	384	(0%)#	(0%)
April 24	Pennsylvania	primary	228	22	250	616,102 (100%)*	(0%)	[53]
April 24	Rhode Island	primary	32	8	40	6,759 (83.4%)	1,348 (16.6%)	[54]
May 1–6	Democrats Abroad	primary	15	4	19	2,709 (99.09%)	25 (0.91%)	[55]
May 5	Florida	caucus (after a nonbinding primary)1	276	24	300	(100%)*	(0%)
May 5	Guam	primary	7	5	12	700 (100%)*	(0%)	[56]
May 5	Michigan	caucus	183	20	203	174,054 (89.3%)	20,833 (10.7%)	[57]
May 8	Indiana	primary	96	9	105	221,466 (100%)*	(0%)	[58]
May 8	North Carolina	primary	139	18	157	766,077 (79.23%)	200,810 (20.77%)	[59]
May 8	West Virginia	primary	36	11	47	106,770 (59.35%)	73,138 (40.65%)	[60]
May 15	Oregon	primary	70	14	84	309,358 (94.79%)	16,998 (5.21%)	[61]
May 22	Arkansas	primary	47	8	55	94,852 (58.4%)	67,491 (41.6%)	[62]
May 22	Kentucky	primary	66	7	73	119,293 (57.8%)	86,925 (42.2%)	[63]
May 1-30	Delaware	primary	23	10	33	(0%)#	(0%)
June 2–3	U.S. Virgin Islands	convention	7	6	13
June 3	Puerto Rico	primary	60	7	67
June 5	California	primary	547	62	609	2,075,905 (>99.99%)	404 (<0.01%)	[64]
June 5	Montana	primary	24	7	31	79,932 (89.77%)	8,270 (10.23%)	[65]
June 5	New Jersey	primary	153	19	172	283,673 (100%)*	(0%)	[66]
June 5	New Mexico	primary	39	11	50	122,958 (100%)*	(0%)	[67]
June 5	North Dakota	caucus	22	5	27
June 5	South Dakota	primary	22	7	29
Jan 3 - Jun 5	All 56 constituencies	-	4,826	726	5,552	-	-	[25]

* - Unopposed # - Primary Canceled

Notes

1. Florida's legislature set the date for its primary on January 31, violating the scheduling guidelines of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The DNC has since declared Florida's primary as nonbinding, and therefore an alternate delegate selection system consisting of county caucuses will now take place on May 5, followed by a state convention in June.
2. Randall Terry collected 18% of the votes, winning twelve counties, in the Oklahoma primary, qualifying him for seven delegates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Jim Rogers collected 13% of the votes, winning three counties, qualifying him for three delegates (one from each of three congressional districts where he collected over 15%).^[68]

State results[]

New Hampshire Democratic Primary, 2012

← 2008 January 11, 2012 (2012-01-11) 2016 →

Candidate Barack Obama Ron Paul Home state Illinois Texas Delegate count 10 0 Popular vote 49,080 2,289 Percentage 80.91% 3.77%

New Hampshire

A Democratic presidential candidates debate, held at Saint Anselm College in December 2011, was attended by seven candidates; Obama did not participate.^[4] A total of 60,659 votes were cast in the primary. Obama won with 49,080 votes. The total votes cast were more than 30 percent fewer than in 1996, the last time that a Democratic president ran for re-election without significant opposition.^[69] As is typical in New Hampshire primaries, there were a number of write in votes for politicians from the other party.

Candidate		Votes[70]	Percentage	Delegates
	Barack Obama	49,080	80.91%	10
	Ron Paul	2,289	3.77%	-
	Mitt Romney	1,814	2.99%	-
	Jon Huntsman	1,238	2.04%	-
	Ed Cowan	945	1.56%	-
	Vermin Supreme	833	1.37%	-
	Randall Terry	446	1%	-
	Scatter	772	1.27%	-
	John D. Haywood	423	0.70%	-
	Craig Freis	400	0.66%	-
	Rick Santorum	302	0.50%	-
	Bob Ely	287	0.47%	-
	Newt Gingrich	276	0.46%	-
	Cornelius Edward O'Connor	265	0.44%	-
	Darcy Richardson	264	0.44%	-
	John Wolfe, Jr.	245	0.40%	-
	Edward T. O'Donnell	222	0.37%	-
	Bob Greene	213	0.35%	-
	Robert B. Jordan	155	0.26%	-
	Aldous C. Tyler	106	0.17%	-
	Buddy Roemer	29	0.05%	-
	Fred Karger	26	0.04%	-
	Rick Perry	17	0.03%	-
	Stewart Greenleaf	4	0.01%	-
	Gary Johnson	4	0.01%	-
	Michael Meehan	4	0.01%	-
	Michele Bachmann	2	0.00%	-
	Herman Cain	1	0.00%	-

Oklahoma

Oklahoma Democratic primary, March 6, 2012[71]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates
Barack Obama	64,330	57.09%	35
Randall Terry	20,302	18.02%	7
Jim Rogers	15,540	13.79%	3
Darcy Richardson	7,197	6.39%	0
Bob Ely	5,322	4.72%	0
Unprojected delegates:			45
Total:	-	-	45

Louisiana

Louisiana Democratic primary, March 24, 2012
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates
Barack Obama	115,150	76.45%	62
John Wolfe Jr.	17,804	11.83%	3
Bob Ely	9,897	6.57%	-
Darcy Richardson	7,750	5.15%	-

Missouri

Missouri Democratic primary, February 7, 2012
Candidate	Votes	percentage	Delegates
Barack Obama	64,366	88.39%	89
Randall Terry	1,998	2.74%	-
John Wolfe Jr.	1,000	1.37%	-
Darcy Richardson	873	1.20%	-
uncommitted	4,580	6.29%	-

Arkansas

Arkansas Democratic primary, May 22, 2012
Candidate	Votes	percentage	Delegates
Barack Obama	94,936	58.37%	55
John Wolfe Jr.	67,711	41.63%	-

See also[]

• United States presidential election
• 2012 Democratic National Convention
• Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012

References[]