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538 members of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 58.2% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2008 United States Presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Hillary Clinton, the junior Senator from New York, and Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior Senator from Arizona, and Tim Pawlenty, the Governor of Minnesota. Hillary Clinton became the first female to be elected to the presidency, as well as being only the third sitting United States Senator elected president, joining Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, Obama became the first African American elected to the vice presidency, as well as the first senator running mate of a senator elected president since Lyndon B. Johnson (who was Kennedy's running mate) n the 1960 election.
Incumbent Republican President George W. Bush was ineligible to pursue a third term due to the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment. McCain secured the Republican nomination by March 2008, defeating former governors Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and other challengers. The Democratic primaries were marked by a sharp contest Obama and the initial front-runner, former First Lady and Senator Hillary Clinton. Clinton's victory in the New Hampshire primary made her the first woman to win a major party's presidential primary. After a long primary session, Clinton secured the Democratic nomination in June 2008