Oregon Democratic primary, 2008

Oregon Democratic Primary, 2008

2006 ← May 20, 2008 → 2010

Oregon's congressional districts

The 2008 Oregon Democratic primary was a mail-only primary in the U.S. state of Oregon. Ballots were mailed to registered Democratic voters between May 2 and May 6, 2008.^[1] To be counted, all ballots had to have been received by county elections offices by 8:00 p.m. PDT on May 20, 2008.^[1] It was a closed primary and voters had to have registered as Democrats by April 29, 2008 to be eligible to vote in any of the partisan races.

At the time of the election there were 868,371 registered Democratic voters; 73.56% of them voted in this election.^[2]

Presidential race

In the race for the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, there were two candidates on the Oregon ballot: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Delegates

Oregon had a total of 65 delegates at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Of these, 52 pledged delegates were allocated proportionally to one of the Democratic Presidential candidates in the primary. (The delegates themselves, along with nine alternates, were elected at a later date.)^[3]

The 52 pledged delegates were allocated as follows:^[3]

• Oregon's 1st congressional district: 7
• Oregon's 2nd congressional district: 5
• Oregon's 3rd congressional district: 9
• Oregon's 4th congressional district: 7
• Oregon's 5th congressional district: 6
• At-large: 12
• Pledged superdelegates: 6

Oregon also had 13 unpledged superdelegates, all of whom endorsed Obama (though Kulongoski and Hooley originally endorsed Clinton in the primaries):^[4][5]

• Governor Ted Kulongoski
• U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
• Congressman David Wu
• Congressman Earl Blumenauer
• Congressman Peter DeFazio
• Congresswoman Darlene Hooley
• Secretary of State Bill Bradbury (by association with the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State)
• DNC member Frank Dixon
• DNC member Jenny Greenleaf
• DNC member Wayne Kinney
• DNC member Gail Rasmussen
• DNC member and DPO chair Meredith Wood Smith
• Former Governor Barbara Roberts (unpledged delegate, elected at the state Democratic convention on June 21)^[6]

Polling

See also: Statewide opinion polling for the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2008#Oregon

Source	Date	Clinton	Obama	Other	Undecided
SurveyUSA	May 16–May 18, 2008	42%	55%	2%	1%
Suffolk	May 15–May 17, 2008	41%	45%	--	8%
American Research Group	May 14–May 15, 2008	45%	50%	--	5%
Public Policy Polling (D)	May 10–May 11, 2008	39%	53%	--	7%
SurveyUSA	May 9–May 11, 2008	43%	54%	2%	2%
Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall	May 8–May 10, 2008	35%	55%	--	10%
Rasmussen Reports	May 1, 2008	39%	51%	--	10%
SurveyUSA	April 28–April 30, 2008	44%	50%	2%	4%
SurveyUSA	April 4–April 6, 2008	42%	52%	4%	3%
Riley Research Poll	January 21–January 29, 2008	36%	28%	18%	13%

May 18 Obama rally

On May 18, 2008, Barack Obama addressed a rally in Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland, with a crowd estimated at 72,000 (60,000 inside the gates and another 12,000 outside).^[7] This crowd was the largest ever to greet Obama, surpassing his previous record of 35,000 people in Pennsylvania.^[8][9] It was also likely the largest-ever political rally in Oregon, surpassing the John Kerry rally in 2004, which drew 50,000.^[7] Large, media-attracting rallies and meetings such as this were noted to make a substantial difference in electorate enthusiasm and volunteer sign-ups for both Democratic Party potential candidates.^[10]

Results

See also: Results of the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries

Primary date: May 20, 2008

National pledged delegates determined: 52

Oregon Democratic presidential primary, 2008 Official Results[11]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates[12]
Barack Obama	375,385	58.52%	31
Hillary Clinton	259,825	40.50%	21
Write-in	6,289	0.98%	0
Total	638,790	100.00%	52

U.S. Senate

Main article: United States Senate election in Oregon, 2008

Oregon Democrats selected speaker of the Oregon House Jeff Merkley as their nominee for the United States Senate seat held by Republican Gordon Smith. Steve Novick finished a close second.^[13]

Polling

Source	Date	Goberman	Loera	Merkley	Neville	Novick	Obrist	Other/ Undecided
SurveyUSA	May 16–May 18, 2008	2%	2%	34%	7%	37%	2%	17%
SurveyUSA	May 9–May 11, 2008	2%	2%	31%	11%	27%	2%	24%
Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall	May 8–May 10, 2008	1%	1%	21%	0%	26%	3%	43%
SurveyUSA	April 28–April 30, 2008	2%	2%	28%	8%	30%	4%	26%
SurveyUSA	April 4–April 6, 2008	3%	6%	11%	12%	23%	5%	40%

U.S. House of Representatives

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Oregon, 2008

Oregon Democrats selected the Democratic candidates to run for election in each of Oregon's five congressional districts in the United States House of Representatives. Democratic incumbents David Wu, Earl Blumenauer, and Peter DeFazio won their party's nomination and state senator Kurt Schrader won the Democratic nomination for the seat held by the retiring Darlene Hooley.^[14] Democrat Noah Lemas was unopposed to run for the seat currently held by Republican Greg Walden.

Statewide offices

Main article: Oregon state elections, 2008

This election determined the Democratic candidate for several statewide offices. In the race for Secretary of State, state senator Kate Brown defeated Rick Metsger, Vicki Walker, and Paul Damian Wells.^[15]

In the race for Attorney General, John Kroger defeated Greg Macpherson.^[16] In the race for Treasurer, Ben Westlund was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

Oregon Senate

Main article: Oregon Senate elections, 2008

Half (15) of the positions in the Oregon State Senate were up for election. Democrats nominated candidates in 12 Senate districts for the general election.

Oregon House of Representatives

Main article: Oregon House of Representatives elections, 2008

As is the case every two years, all the 60 positions in the Oregon House of Representatives were up for election. Democrats nominated candidates in 56 House districts for the general election, including one successful write-in candidate.

See also

• Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
• Oregon Republican primary, 2008

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Voters' Guide General Information". Oregon Secretary of State. http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/may202008/guide/geninfo.html. Retrieved 2008-05-05. 
2. ^ "Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division". Oregon Secretary of State. 2008-05-22. https://secure.sos.state.or.us/eim/goToElectionResults.do?actionId=viewLoad&mode=view. Retrieved 2008-05-24. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Democratic Party of Oregon: Basic information about our delegate selection plan". OregonDemocrats.org. http://www.oregondemocrats.org/sites/default/files/Convention08/Oregon_DSP_Info.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-07. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Kulongoski, Hooley endorse Obama". The Oregonian. 2008-06-06. http://blog.oregonlive.com/politics/2008/06/kulongoski_hooley_endorse_obam.html. Retrieved 2008-06-18. 
5. ^ "Unpledged PLEO Delegates -- by state" (PDF). Democratic Party. http://s3.amazonaws.com/apache.3cdn.net/5ccfd47d2b931d9253_bzm6bn91f.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-07. 
6. ^ "Oregon Democrats pick ex-governor as 65th delegate". OregonLive.com. 2008-06-21. http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2008/06/oregon_democrats_pick_exgovern.html. Retrieved 2008-06-22. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Cole, Michelle; Dave Hogan and Tony Green (May 19, 2008). "72,000 gather at Portland's Waterfront Park to see Obama The crowd is a record for a political event in Oregon and wraps up the Democratic senator's campaign tour of the state". The Oregonian. 
8. ^ "Record Obama Crowd, the Size of a City". The Washington Post. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/18/record_obama_crowd_the_size_of.html?hpid=topnews. Retrieved 2008-05-19. 
9. ^ Rohter, Larry (May 18, 2008). "Obama Draws Record Crowd in Oregon". The New York Times. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/obama-draws-record-crowd-in-oregon/?hp. Retrieved 2008-05-19. 
10. ^ Meckler, Laura (June 9, 2008). "In Crowd Size, Obama Has the Edge". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121296861597155771.html. Retrieved 2008-06-09. 
11. ^ "Oregon Secretary of State, June 9, 2008 Primary Election, Official Election Results, United States President". Oregon Secretary of State. 2008-06-20. http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/may202008/p08results.html. Retrieved 2008-06-20. 
12. ^ Berg-Andersson, Richard. "Oregon Democratic Delegation 2008". The Green Papers. http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/OR-D.phtml. Retrieved 2008-05-21. 
13. ^ "Merkley wins Senate Democratic primary". OregonLive.com. http://www.oregonlive.com/special/index.ssf/2008/05/senate.html. Retrieved 2008-05-20. 
14. ^ "Schrader wins 5th District Democratic nomination". OregonLive.com. http://www.oregonlive.com/special/index.ssf/2008/05/fifth_d.html. Retrieved 2008-05-20. 
15. ^ "Brown wins Democratic secretary of state nomination". OregonLive.com. http://www.oregonlive.com/special/index.ssf/2008/05/secstate.html. Retrieved 2008-05-20. 
16. ^ "Kroger wins Democratic attorney general nomination". OregonLive.com. http://www.oregonlive.com/special/index.ssf/2008/05/ag.html. Retrieved 2008-05-20. 

External links

• Oregon Democratic Party website