Title: 2008 United States presidential election - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Headings: 2008 United States presidential election
2008 United States presidential election
Contents
Background
Democratic Primaries
Nominees
Withdrawn candidates
Republican Primaries
Nominees
Withdrawn candidates
The Campaign
Results
Results by state
Related pages
References
Other websites

Content: 2008 United States presidential election - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2008 United States presidential election
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
2008 United States presidential election

← 2004
November 4, 2008
2012 →
All 538 electoral votes of the Electoral College
270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout
58.2% 1.5 pp



Nominee
Barack Obama
John McCain

Party
Democratic
Republican
Home state
Illinois
Arizona
Running mate
Joe Biden
Sarah Palin
Electoral vote
365
173
States carried
28 + DC + NE-02
22
Popular vote
69,498,516
59,948,323
Percentage
52.9%
45.7%
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes those won by Obama/Biden, red denotes states won by McCain/Palin. Numbers indicate electoral votes allotted to the winner of each state. President before election
George W. Bush
Republican
Elected President
Barack Obama
Democratic
The 2008 United States presidential election happened on November 4, 2008. During that day the President of the United States and Vice President of the United States were selected. Barack Obama from the Democratic Party defeated John McCain to win the presidency, and became the first African-American president. He was sworn in as President on January 20, 2009. In a United States presidential election, a person must get 270 electoral votes to win. Contents
1 Background
2 Democratic Primaries
2.1 Nominees
2.1.1 Withdrawn candidates
3 Republican Primaries
3.1 Nominees
3.1.1 Withdrawn candidates
4 The Campaign
5 Results
5.1 Results by state
6 Related pages
7 References
8 Other websites
Background
Article Two of the United States Constitution provides that for a person to be elected and serve as President of the United States, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, at least 35 years old, and a resident of the United States for a period of no less than 14 years. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the various political parties of the United States, in which case each party devises a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position.