Costa biography award 2008 democratic primary

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; with the votes from Michigan, Clinton won the popular vote. 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.

He went on to win the general election, and became the 44th president of the United States on January 20, Clinton went on to serve as Obama's Secretary of State for his first term as president, and the Democratic nominee for president in , losing to Donald Trump. These primaries included the nominees for the next three elections: Obama again in , Clinton in , and Biden in Delegates are the people who decided the nomination at the 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 Virgin Islands , Guam and Democrats Abroad , as well as the states of Florida and 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, In the modern 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.

Virgin Islands, and Democrats Abroad. Superdelegate votes are given equal weight to the votes of pledged delegates. Superdelegates are members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate , state and territorial governors , members of the Democratic National Committee , distinguished party leaders, and add-on delegates selected by the state parties.

They represented almost 20 percent of the total 4, 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 stood at 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. Under the Democratic Party's Delegate Selection Rules for the Democratic National Convention , [ 13 ] 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 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. 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.

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. The earliest significant candidate to launch their candidacy was Mike Gravel in April However, for the most part, the race for the presidential nomination did not truly begin in earnest until after the midterm elections.

Bayh said he would not seek the nomination on December 16, , and withdrew from the race. Soon Vilsack dropped out in February On November 21, Obama announced that Oprah Winfrey would be campaigning for him in the early primary states, [ 19 ] setting off speculation that, although celebrity endorsements typically have little effect on voter opinions, Winfrey's participation would supply Obama with a large, receptive audience.

Following tradition, the primary calendar began with the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. The Nevada caucuses and the 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.

However, as the contests were unsanctioned, the results were not recognized by the national committee until a compromise was reached four months later. The following table shows the pledged delegate votes awarded in the first four contests recognized by the DNC. 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. Our campaign was built for a marathon. 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, [ 41 ] as Obama surged to a roughly point lead in the New Hampshire polls. 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. The morning before the primary, Clinton became "visibly emotional" in response to a friendly question from a voter.

They tied in the delegate count. Richardson withdrew from the race on January 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 came to the fore as campaigning began for the South Carolina primary, the first to feature a large proportion of African Americans in the Democratic electorate.

Behind in the state polls, Clinton left to campaign in some Super Tuesday states, [ 46 ] while her husband, former president Bill Clinton , stayed in South Carolina and engaged in a series of exchanges with Obama. 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.

Edwards suspended his candidacy on January 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, delegates at stake and more media attention than any primary election day in American history.

In August , 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, Meanwhile, Michigan moved its primary to January 15, , also in violation of party rules.

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. None of the top candidates campaigned in Florida or Michigan. The events were described in the media as "beauty contests," [ 60 ] and voter turnout in both states was relatively low when compared with record-high turnout in other states.

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.

On May 31, , the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee [ 64 ] [ 65 ] 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. Traditionally, the Tuesday on which the greatest number of states hold primary elections is known as Super Tuesday.

In , 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. Kennedy , [ 72 ] as well as Senator Ted Kennedy , the former President's brother.

A total of 1, 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. On election night, both Obama and Clinton claimed victories. In the popular vote, Obama won 13 states and territories to Clinton's 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 Clinton found significant support among white women, Latinos , and voters over age Obama ran strongest in caucus states, Rocky Mountain states , Southern states and Midwestern states.

Clinton ran strongest in the Northeastern 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 pledged delegates to Clinton's 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.

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. 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. Obama's momentum carried throughout the following week, as he scored large delegate gains in the Potomac primaries , taking the lead in the nationwide popular vote , even under the projection most favorable to Clinton, with Florida and Michigan included.

NBC News declared him "Mr. Frontrunner" on February In 11 days, he swept 11 contests and extended his pledged delegate lead by By the end of the month, Obama had 1, pledged delegates to Clinton's 1, He also began closing the gap in superdelegates, although Clinton still led among superdelegates by — 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.

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 Latino voters. Exit polls in previous states showed that all three groups were a part of Clinton's base. Meanwhile, Obama hoped to win one or both states that might be enough to knock Clinton out of the race.

Costa biography award 2008 democratic primary

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. While Obama was not implicated, questions remained about how forthcoming he had been about his relationship with Rezko.

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. The ad drew significant media attention in the four days before the election. 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. Obama focused on the "delegate math. 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 As the campaigns settled in for the long haul, advisors for both candidates escalated their rhetoric and stepped up attacks in their daily conference calls.

News reports described the tenor as increasingly "rancorous" and "vitriolic. On March 14, clips of controversial sermons 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.

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. 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.

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 Eastertime comparison of Richardson with Judas Iscariot. 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.

Complicating the equation for Democrats, presidential candidate John McCain clinched the 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. 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. Building a Healthy Culture , introduced by Sen. Sam Brownback. Democratic debate on the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries. The Contenders , by Laura Flanders, et al. Should Barack Obama Be President? Living History , by Sen. Hillary Clinton D, NY. Emmett Tyrell. Four Trials , by Sen. John Edwards.

A Prayer for America , by Rep. Dennis Kucinich. The Courage to Survive , by Dennis Kucinich. Maryland primary Pledged delegates: Virginia primary Pledged delegates: Hawaii caucuses Pledged delegates: Wisconsin primary Pledged delegates: Ohio primary Pledged delegates: Rhode Island primary Pledged delegates: Texas primary Pledged delegates: of [B].

Texas precinct conventions Pledged delegates: 0 of [A] [B]. Vermont primary Pledged delegates: Wyoming county caucuses Pledged delegates: 7 of 12 [A] [B]. Mississippi primary Pledged delegates: February 19 — March North Dakota legislative district conventions Pledged delegates: 0 of 13 [A] [B]. Iowa county conventions Pledged delegates: 0 of 45 [A] [B].

February 20 — March April 4—6. North Dakota state convention Pledged delegates: 13 of 13 [B]. February 23 — April 12 [ 8 ]. Nevada county conventions Pledged delegates: 0 of 25 [A] [B]. Pennsylvania primary Pledged delegates: April 5— Guam territorial convention Pledged delegate votes: 4. Indiana primary Pledged delegates: North Carolina primary Pledged delegates: West Virginia primary Pledged delegates: May 13— Colorado congressional district conventions Pledged delegates: 36 of 55 [B].

Colorado state convention Pledged delegates: 19 of 55 [B]. Kansas state convention Pledged delegates: 11 of 32 [B]. Nevada state convention Pledged delegates: 25 of 25 [B]. Pledged delegates: 51 of 78 [B]. Kentucky primary Pledged delegates: Oregon primary Pledged delegates: Alaska state convention Pledged delegates: 13 of 13 [B].

Wyoming state convention Pledged delegates: 5 of 12 [B]. Puerto Rico primary Pledged delegates: Montana primary Pledged delegates: South Dakota primary Pledged delegates: June 6—7. June 1— Nebraska county conventions Pledged delegates: 0 of 24 [A] [B]. June 12— Pledged delegates: 16 of 45 [B]. June 13— June Puerto Rico commonwealth convention Pledged delegates: 0 of 55 [B].

June 20— Pledged delegate margins by state. Obama won the delegate count in the darkest purple states by the largest margins, while Clinton won the delegate count in the darkest green states by the largest margins. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. Annual literary award for debut novels.

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