2008 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses

none June 2025 September 2023 2008 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses Iowa Flag of Iowa (xrmap collection).svg presidential no 2000 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses 2000 2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses 2012 2008 01 03 File:Mike Huckabee, speaking to a gathering at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.jpg 150x150px 990000 Mike Huckabee Republican Party (United States) Arkansas 40,954 34.36% File:Mitt Romney by Gage Skidmore 6.jpg 85bb65 Mitt Romney Republican Party (United States) Massachusetts 30,021 25.19% File:Fred Thompson October 2007.jpg 13d0d4 Fred Thompson Republican Party (United States) Tennessee 15,960 13.39% File:John McCain official portrait 2009.jpg ce5c17 John McCain Republican Party (United States) Arizona 15,536 13.03% File:Ron Paul, official Congressional photo portrait, 2007.jpg fed105 Ron Paul Republican Party (United States) Texas 11,841 9.93% File:Rudy Giuliani (cropped).jpg 8369fe Rudy Giuliani Republican Party (United States) New York 4,099 3.44% WY Iowa Republican Presidential Caucuses Election Results by County, 2008.svg 250px Election results by county. #990000 Mike Huckabee #85bb65 Mitt Romney #fed105 Ron Paul The 2008 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses took place on January 3, 2008. The Iowa Republican caucuses are an unofficial primary, with the delegates to the state convention selected proportionally via a straw poll. The Iowa caucuses mark the traditional formal start of the delegate selection process for the 2008 United States presidential election. Prior to the 2008 caucuses, as in previous election cycles with a competitive presidential race, an unofficial Ames Straw Poll was held, on August 11, 2007. The official one, electing delegates to the state convention, was held on January 3, 2008, the same day as the Democratic contest. In the Ames Straw Poll, Mitt Romney finished first with 32% of the vote. In the January 2008 caucuses, Mike Huckabee finished first with 34% of the vote. Huckabee's victory in the caucus was credited to his strong performance among evangelical voters, with an exit poll finding that 80% of his voters were evangelicals. Huckabee's victory over his nearest opponent Romney, who outspent him by millions in the state, was considered significant by media outlets.Sinderbrand Rebecca 2008-01-05 Analysis: Huckabee taps evangelical enthusiasm - CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/05/huckabee.innovation/ 2023-04-19 CNN January 2008 procedure Unlike the Democratic caucus, the Republican Party does not use voting rounds or have minimum requirements for a percent of votes. The Republican version is done with a straw vote of those attending the caucus. This vote is sometimes done by a show of hands or by dividing themselves into groups according to candidate. However, officially it is done with voters receiving a blank piece of paper with no names on it, and the voter writing a name and placing it in a ballot box.https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/us/politics/04rcaucus.html The New York Times One Republican Caucus Is Found to Be an Uncomplicated Affair Mark Leibovich 2008-01-04 2010-05-05 Following the straw poll, delegates are then elected from the remaining participants in the room, as most voters leave once their vote is cast. All delegates are officially considered unbound,Republican Party of IOWA Caucuses but media outlets either apportion delegates proportionallyhttp://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#IA CNN Election Center 2008: Primary Results - Elections & Politics news from CNN.com 2010-05-05 or apportion them in terms of winner-take-all by counties.ABC News: Primary Results By State In precincts that elect only one delegate, the delegate is chosen by majority vote and the vote must be by paper ballot.http://www.iowacaucus.org/iacaucus.html Iowa Caucus 2008 2007-11-08 2008-01-02 https://web.archive.org/web/20080102194406/http://www.iowacaucus.org/iacaucus.html dead The state party strongly urges that delegates reflect the results of the preference poll, but there is no obligation that they do so. The Ames Straw Poll Ames Straw Poll The 2007 Ames straw poll was held at Iowa State University (Ames)'s Hilton Coliseum on August 11, 2007.Ames Straw Poll date set https://web.archive.org/web/20110718115943/http://www.ovaloffice2008.com/2006/12/ames-straw-poll-date-set.html 2011-07-18 from OvalOffice2008.com. This was primarily a fundraising event for the state's Republican Party, and only Iowa residents who paid the $35 price for a ticket were eligible to vote. Tickets were available through the various presidential campaigns and the Iowa Republican Party's headquarters. In general, the candidates bought large blocks of tickets and gave them out for free to whoever agreed to go and vote for that candidate. The candidates also rented buses to transport voters to Ames. Mitt Romney finished first with 32% of the vote, followed by Mike Huckabee (18%), Sam Brownback (15%), Tom Tancredo (14%), and Ron Paul (10%). Six other candidates shared the remaining 14% of the vote. Pre-caucus polls 600px|right|Pre-caucus opinion polling statistics throughout the campaign season. Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 Republican Party presidential primaries#Iowa Before the caucuses, the Des Moines Register reported the following results from a poll of 800 likely Republican caucus goers from December 27 to December 30, 2007: Mike Huckabee - 32% Mitt Romney - 26% John McCain - 13% Fred Thompson - 9% Ron Paul - 9% Rudy Giuliani - 5% Duncan Hunter - 1% Alan Keyes - 1% Not sure/Uncommitted - 4% The above results have a margin of sampling error of ±3.5 percentage points. Jonathan Roos GOP poll: Huckabee maintains lead over Romney DesMoinesRegister.com Des Moines Register and Tribune Company 2007-12-31 http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071231/NEWS09/71231042 https://archive.today/20130122063610/http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071231/NEWS09/71231042 dead January 22, 2013 2008-08-31 Mike Huckabee's results in the opinion polls rose from 29% in the Des Moines Register's poll in late November 2007. Mitt Romney rose two points from 24% in November to 26% in December. John McCain enjoyed the biggest increase from November, increasing six points from 7% to 13%, while Rudy Giuliani suffered the biggest drop from November, decreasing eight points from 13% to 5%. Giuliani's large drop was attributed to his strategy of skipping early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire in favor of larger, delegate-rich states such as Florida, California, and New York. No other candidate polled more than 10%. Huckabee's poll numbers in Iowa rose dramatically from October to December, in part due to his backing among evangelical voters, who accounted for almost one-half of those polled. Huckabee led Romney in that group 47%-20%. Huckabee also polled higher than Romney among the group who said it was more important to be a social conservative than a fiscal conservative, while Romney led Huckabee 29%-25% among the group who said that being fiscally conservative was most important. In addition, Romney also polled highest in the categories of experience and competence, the ability to bring about change, and electability. Results of the January 2008 caucuses Because Iowa's delegates aren't officially bound to candidates, the delegates given to each candidate below are rough estimates. As of 11:05 p.m. EDT, January 4, 2008, with 100% of the votes reported, the results were: +100% of precincts reportinghttp://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#IA Election Center 2008: Primary Results for Iowa 2008-01-04 CNNPolitics.com Cable News Network 2008-01-04 Candidate Voteshttp://www.iowagop.net/inner.asp?z=4 Certified Results of the January 3rd, 2008 - Iowa Republican Party Caucus Presidential Straw Vote 2008-01-03 Republican Party of Iowa 2008-05-23 http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20080514185036/http://www.iowagop.net/inner.asp?z=4 2008-05-14 usurped Percentage Delegates Mike Huckabee 40,954 34.36% 13 Mitt Romney 30,021 25.19% 9 Fred Thompson 15,960 13.39% 5 John McCain 15,536 13.03% 5 Ron Paul 11,841 9.93% 4 Rudy Giuliani 4,099 3.44% 1 Duncan Hunter 506 0.42% 0 Alan Keyes 247 0.21% 0 John Cox* 10 .01% 0 Hugh Cort 5 0% 0 Tom Tancredo* 5 0% 0 Vern Wuensche 2 0% 0 Sam Brownback* 1 0% 0 Cap Fendig 1 0% 0 Total 119,188 100% 37 *Candidate had already dropped out of the race prior to caucus. Only three candidates won either pluralities or majorities in individual counties: Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul. The Giuliani campaign followed an unusual strategy of focusing on larger states that vote later in the process, and had done little if any campaigning in Iowa. Tancredo had already withdrawn from the presidential race two weeks earlier and endorsed Romney, https://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-12-19-tancredo_N.htm?csp=34 2007-12-20 USA Today Jason Pulliam Tancredo drops out, endorses Romney 2007-12-20 but his name remained in the official list of candidates of the Iowa Republican Party. Some 120,000 Iowa Republicans attended the 2008 caucuses, a new record. About 87,000 attended in 2000; in 2004, George W. Bush ran unopposed.Whitney Woodward Democrat turnout outnumbers GOP by 2-1 http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/01/04/news/elections/doc477dc03d69727594151308.txt Quad-City Times 2008-01-04 2008-01-04 See also Iowa caucuses 2008 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses 2008 Republican Party presidential primaries References https://web.archive.org/web/20080516092625/http://articles.citypages.com/2008-01-09/feature/the-wizards-of-odds/ External links http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/ia/iowa_republican_caucus-207.html https://web.archive.org/web/20080509091509/http://www.pollster.com/08-IA-Rep-Pres-Primary.php http://www.iowacaucus.org/iacaucus.html https://web.archive.org/web/20080102194406/http://www.iowacaucus.org/iacaucus.html 2008-01-02 A FAQ about the Iowa Caucus. Article title Official results 2008 Iowa Category:2008 Iowa elections