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 Primary results by county Obama: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Clinton: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||||
The2008 North Carolina Democratic presidential primary took place on May 6, 2008, one of the last primary elections in the long race for nomination betweenBarack Obama andHillary Clinton. Obama won the primary.
North Carolina sent 134 delegates to the2008 Democratic National Convention. 115 delegates were tied to the results of the primary, with the remainder being unelectedsuperdelegates not pledged to any candidate.[1] RegisteredDemocrats and unaffiliated voters (but not registeredRepublicans) were allowed to participate.[2] The polls were open from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM, Eastern daylight time (UTC-4).[3] North Carolina had 5,811,778 registered voters in 2,817 precincts, with turnout at 36.42%.[4][5]
Public opinion polling from early January 2008 through mid-February 2008 generally gaveSenator Hillary Clinton a single digit lead overSenator Barack Obama.[6] From then on, Obama had the lead in almost every poll,[7] and on May 5, was up by 3%, holding 48% to her 45%. 7% were undecided, with a margin of error of 3%.[8] The new polls gave "fresh hope" to Clinton.[9]
The North Carolina stateboard of elections reported that misleadingrobocalls were made toAfrican-American voters in the days leading up to the primary in late April 2008,[10] which essentially told registered voters that they were not registered.[11]According toNPR[12] and Facing South,[13] these calls were made by the organization "Women's Voices Women Vote."[14]
"Women's Voices Women Vote" included members such as former White House chief of staffJohn Podesta,Maggie Williams, andPage Gardner, all of whom have close ties to the Clintons. Voters and watchdog groups complained that it was a turnout-suppression effort, and the state Attorney GeneralRoy Cooper ordered them to stop making the calls.[14]
Primary date: May 6, 2008
National pledged delegates determined: 115
| Key: | Withdrew prior to contest |
| North Carolina Democratic presidential primary, 2008 Official Results[4] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Estimated national delegates[15] |
| Barack Obama | 887,391 | 56.14% | 67 |
| Hillary Clinton | 657,669 | 41.61% | 48 |
| Mike Gravel | 12,452 | 0.79% | 0 |
| No Preference | 23,214 | 1.47% | 0 |
| Totals | 1,580,726 | 100.00% | 115 |
The day that the North Carolina primary was held was known asSuper Tuesday III. Along withIndiana which held its primary on the same day, this was largely considered the "Waterloo" of the Democratic primaries. Obama had been under fire forcontroversial remarks made byJeremiah Wright, and his lead in North Carolina polls had been reduced to single digits, so Clinton's double-digit loss in that state was a major disappointment. Further hurting Clinton's campaign was the time-zone differences, as the defeat was reported in prime time, and the news of the narrow victory in Indiana had come too late.MSNBC'sTim Russert was quoted as saying "She did not get the game-changer she wanted tonight."[1]
