The 2008 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Maryland was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama by a 25.4% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. Maryland has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate of every election since 1992. In 2008, Obama easily captured the state's 10 electoral votes in a landslide victory, winning 61.92% of the popular vote to Republican John McCain's 36.47%.

Primaries 2008 Maryland Democratic presidential primary 2008 Maryland Republican presidential primary

Campaign Predictions There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

+SourceRankingD.C. Political ReportCook Political ReportThe TakeawayElectoral-vote.comWashington PostBased on TakeawayPoliticoRealClearPoliticsFiveThirtyEightCQ PoliticsThe New York TimesCNNNPRMSNBCFox NewsAssociated PressRasmussen Reports

Polling

Obama won every single pre-election poll, each by a double-digit margin of victory and at least 51% of the vote. The final 3 polls averaged Obama leading 54% to 38%.Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections

Fundraising John McCain raised a total of $3,439,120 in the state. Barack Obama raised $19,091,136.

Advertising and visits Obama spent $257,582 while McCain spent nothing. Both tickets visited the state once.

Analysis

Maryland has supported the Democratic nominee in each of the last five presidential elections by an average margin of 15.4%. In 1980, it was 1 of only 6 states to vote for Democrat Jimmy Carter over Republican Ronald Reagan. It has only supported a Republican six times since Franklin D. Roosevelt – 1948 and the Republican landslides of 1952, 1956, 1972, 1984 and 1988.

Maryland is often among the Democratic nominees' best states. In 1992, Bill Clinton fared better in Maryland than any other state except his home state of Arkansas. In 1996, Maryland was Clinton's sixth best, in 2000 Maryland ranked fourth for Al Gore and in 2004 John Kerry showed his fifth best performance in Maryland.

Republican presidential candidates typically win more counties by running up huge margins in western Maryland and the Eastern Shore. However, they are usually swamped by the heavily Democratic Baltimore-Washington, D.C. axis, which casts almost 75% of the state's vote. The state's four largest county-level jurisdictions – Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties and the City of Baltimore — are strongly Democratic. These areas, which contain 1.5 million voters combined, make it extremely difficult for a Republican to win Maryland. Even in bad years for Democrats, a Republican usually has to run the table in the rest of the state and win either Montgomery, Prince George's or Baltimore counties to have a realistic chance of carrying the state. In 1984, for instance, Ronald Reagan only carried Maryland by crushing Walter Mondale in Baltimore County and narrowly winning Montgomery. In 1988, George H. W. Bush ran up a 42,300-vote margin in Baltimore County over Michael Dukakis – almost 85% of his statewide margin of 49,800 votes.

The 2008 election was no exception. Barack Obama won the state's 10 electoral votes in 2008 with 61.92% of the vote to John McCain's 36.47%. Obama carried Montgomery, Prince George's, Baltimore County and Baltimore City with 71.6%, 88.9%, 56.2 and 87.2% of the vote, respectively. Obama's combined 550,000-vote margin in these four areas would have been enough to carry the state. While McCain won more counties, the only large county he won was Anne Arundel County, home to the state capital, Annapolis. In this election, Maryland voted 18.17% to the left of the nation at-large.

In 2008, Democrats picked up a U.S. House an open seat in Maryland's 1st Congressional District as Democrat Frank M. Kratovil, Jr. defeated Republican Andy Harris by less than a 1% margin of victory.

Results 2008 United States presidential election in MarylandPartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 1,629,467 61.92% 10 Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 959,862 36.47% 0 Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 14,713 0.56% 0 Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 9,842 0.44% 0 Independent Write-in candidates 9,063 0.34% 0 Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 4,747 0.18% 0 Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 3,760 0.14% 0 America's Independent Alan Keyes (write-in) Brian Rohrbough 103 0.00% 0 Unaffiliated Donald Kenneth Allen (write-in) Christopher Borcik 17 0.00% 0 Independent Blaine Taylor (write-in) n/a 12 0.00% 0 Socialist USA Brian Moore (write-in) Stewart Alexander 10 0.00% 0 Totals 2,631,596 100.00% 10 Voter turnout (Voting age population) 62.4%

By county CountyBarack ObamaDemocraticJohn McCainRepublicanVarious candidatesOther partiesMarginTotal votes castMaryland State Board of Elections; 2008 Presidential General Election Official Results President and Vice President of the United States # % # % # % # % Allegany 10,693 35.95% 18,405 61.88% 644 2.17% -7,712 -25.93% 29,742 Anne Arundel 125,015 48.15% 129,682 49.95% 4,922 1.90% -4,667 -1.80% 259,619 Baltimore 214,151 56.22% 158,714 41.66% 8,073 2.12% 55,437 14.55% 380,938 Baltimore City 214,385 87.16% 28,681 11.66% 2,902 1.18% 185,704 75.50% 245,968 Calvert 20,299 46.07% 23,095 52.42% 663 1.50% -2,796 -6.35% 44,057 Caroline 4,971 37.61% 8,015 60.64% 232 1.76% -3,044 -23.03% 13,218 Carroll 28,060 33.11% 54,503 64.30% 2,197 2.59% -26,443 -31.20% 84,760 Cecil 17,665 41.57% 23,855 56.14% 974 2.29% -6,190 -14.57% 42,494 Charles 43,635 62.22% 25,732 36.69% 760 1.08% 17,903 25.53% 70,127 Dorchester 6,912 45.25% 8,168 53.48% 194 1.27% -1,256 -8.22% 15,274 Frederick 54,013 48.58% 55,170 49.62% 2,003 1.80% -1,157 -1.04% 111,186 Garrett 3,736 29.02% 8,903 69.17% 233 1.81% -5,167 -40.14% 12,872 Harford 48,552 39.38% 71,751 58.19% 2,992 2.43% -23,199 -18.82% 123,295 Howard 87,120 59.99% 55,393 38.14% 2,720 1.87% 31,727 21.85% 145,233 Kent 4,953 49.43% 4,905 48.95% 162 1.62% 48 0.48% 10,020 Montgomery 314,444 71.58% 118,608 27.00% 6,209 1.41% 195,836 44.58% 439,261 Prince George's 332,396 88.87% 38,833 10.38% 2,797 0.75% 293,563 78.49% 374,026 Queen Anne's 8,575 35.66% 15,087 62.74% 383 1.59% -6,512 -27.08% 24,045 Somerset 4,779 48.16% 5,037 50.76% 108 1.09% -258 -2.60% 9,924 St. Mary's 19,023 42.84% 24,705 55.63% 681 1.53% -5,682 -12.79% 44,409 Talbot 9,035 44.45% 10,995 54.09% 298 1.47% -1,960 -9.64% 20,328 Washington 26,245 42.61% 34,169 55.47% 1,186 1.93% -7,924 -12.86% 61,600 Wicomico 19,436 46.44% 21,849 52.20% 569 1.36% -2,413 -5.77% 41,854 Worcester 11,374 41.59% 15,607 57.07% 365 1.33% -4,233 -15.48% 27,346Totals1,629,46761.92%959,86236.47%42,2671.61%669,60525.45%2,631,596

County that flipped from Republican to Democratic Kent (largest borough: Chestertown)

By congressional district Barack Obama carried six of Maryland's eight congressional districts. McCain carried two congressional districts, including one that was won by a Democrat. District Obama McCain Representative39.81%58.26%Wayne Gilchrest (110th Congress)Frank Kratovil (111th Congress)59.84% 38.25%Dutch Ruppersberger58.78% 39.23%John Sarbanes85.06%14.16%Albert Wynn (110th Congress)Donna Edwards (111th Congress)65.44% 33.30%Steny Hoyer 40.19% 57.65%Roscoe Bartlett78.79% 19.89%Elijah Cummings73.88% 24.70%Chris Van Hollen

Electors

Technically the voters of Maryland cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Maryland is allocated 10 electors because it has 8 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 10 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 10 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. An elector who votes for someone other than their 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 10 were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden: Gene M. Ransom III Delores Kelley Guy Guzzone Nathaniel Exum Chris Reynolds Bobby Fouche Elizabeth Bobo Michael Barnes Susan Lee Rainier Harvey, Sr.

See also United States presidential elections in Maryland 2008 United States presidential election 2008 United States elections

References