2008 United States presidential election in Alaska

Primaries

• 2008 Alaska Democratic caucuses
• 2008 Alaska Republican caucuses

Campaign

Predictions

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

Polling

Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election#Alaska

Opinion polls consistently showed John McCain to be leading Barack Obama. From April until August they showed John McCain with a slim lead, with one poll taken in early August showing Obama five points ahead. However, from when Sarah Palin was announced as McCain's running mate on August 29, polls showed John McCain consistently ahead. RealClearPolitics gave the state an average of 55.8% for McCain, compared to 41.3% for Obama.

Fundraising

Barack Obama raised $977,438. John McCain raised $321,101.

Advertising and visits

Obama spent $134,686. McCain and his interest groups spent just $1,836. The Democratic ticket didn't visit the state. Alaskan native Sarah Palin campaigned just once in the state during the fall election.

Analysis

At the time of the election, Alaska had a Republican Governor and Lieutenant Governor (Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell, respectively) and was represented in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives solely by Republicans (U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, who was defeated for reelection in 2008 by the former Democratic Mayor of Anchorage Mark Begich, and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, and U.S. Representative Don Young). At the time of the election, Republicans held a majority in the Alaska House of Representatives whereas a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans controlled the Alaska Senate. Furthermore, since becoming a state in 1959, Alaska has voted for the Republican nominee in every presidential election with the exception of 1964 when Alaska voted for president Lyndon B. Johnson in his 44-state landslide.

Early in the campaign, Obama actually bought some advertising in Alaska, apparently thinking that Libertarian Bob Barr could hold down McCain's numbers; Alaska has a history of supporting third-party candidates. Also, several polls in the early summer of 2008 showed the race within single digits (with one poll from Alaska pollster Hays Research showing Obama with a five-point lead).

Results

Democratic Republican ]]

Boroughs and Census Areas that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Bethel Census Area (largest city: Bethel)
• Kusilvak Census Area (largest city: Hooper Bay)
• Nome Census Area (largest city: Nome)
• Yakutat

By congressional district

Alaska has an at-large congressional equivalent to the statewide results.

Electors

Technically the voters of Alaska cast their ballots for electors—representatives to the Electoral College. Alaska is allocated 3 electors because it has 1 congressional district and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 3 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 3 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 capitals.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 3 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:

1. Roy Burkhart
2. Hope Nelson
3. Robert Brodie

References

References

1. (2009-01-01). "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries.".
2. (2015-05-05). "Presidential".
3. (2009-04-22). "Vote 2008 – The Takeaway – Track the Electoral College vote predictions".
4. "Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily".
5. Based on Takeaway
6. "POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map – POLITICO.com".
7. "RealClearPolitics – Electoral Map".
8. "CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008".
9. (2008-11-04). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times.
10. (2008-10-31). "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs". CNN.
11. (April 27, 2010). "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News.
12. "roadto270".
13. "Election 2008: Electoral College Update – Rasmussen Reports".
14. "Alaska: McCain vs. Obama". [[RealClearPolitics]].
15. "Presidential Campaign Finance: AK Contributions to All Candidates by 3 digit Zip Code". [[Federal Election Commission]].
16. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending – Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN.
17. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits – Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN.
18. [[Chuck Todd. Todd, Chuck]]; and Gawiser, Sheldon. ''How Barack Obama Won.'' [[New York City]]: [[Vintage Books. Vintage]], 2009.
19. (2008-11-11). "2008 Alaska Presidential General Election: McCain vs Obama".
20. (2008-12-03). "Official General Election Results". State of Alaska: Division of Elections.
21. "Electoral College". [[California Secretary of State]].
22. "Archived copy".