Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008

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The 2008 Democratic primaries will be the selection process by which the Democrats choose their candidates in the 2008 election for President and Vice President of the United States through a series of primaries and caucuses culminating in the 2008 Democratic National Convention, to be held from Monday, August 25, through Thursday, August 28, 2008, in Denver, Colorado.

1 Dates
2 Opinion polling
3 Candidates
- 3.1 Potential
- 3.2 Withdrawn
4 Notes and References

[edit] Dates

Democratic candidates in the 2008 U.S. presidential election will campaign for the nomination from their party in a series of primary elections and caucus events. They will take place in three phases.

[edit] Phase One: January

Under party rules, no state may hold their primaries or caucuses before February 5 with the following exceptions:

January 14, 2008 - Iowa (caucus)
January 19, 2008 - Nevada (caucus)^[1]
January 22, 2008 - New Hampshire (primary)^[2]^[3]
January 29, 2008 - South Carolina

Florida is considering moving its primary to January 29, violating party rules. Michigan is considering moving its primary to this date if other states do so as well.^[4]

[edit] Phase Two: Hyper-Tuesday, or the National Primary.

Since the beginning of 2007, many states have moved, or are discussing plans to move, the dates of their primaries or caucuses up to February 5th. The nation's first quasi-"National Primary" may very well take place on that day. This has also been dubbed "Super Duper Tuesday, "Giga Tuesday," "Mega-Tuesday," and the "Powerball Primary."

February 5, 2008 - Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas,^[5] California,^[6] Delaware, Idaho,^[7] Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York^[8], Oklahoma, Utah.

Colorado^[9], Connecticut^[10], Georgia^[11], Illinois, Pennsylvania, Tennessee^[12], Texas are also considering moving their primaries or causcuses to this date.^[13]

[edit] Phase Three: The rest of the race

If no one has clinched the nomination by the 5th, these remaining primaries will likely determine the nomination.

February 9, 2008 - Nebraska (caucus)^[14], Louisiana, Michigan
February 10, 2008 - Maine (caucus)^[15]
February 12, 2008 - District of Columbia, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia
February 19, 2008 - Wisconsin
February 26, 2008 - Hawaii
March 2008 (date to be determined) - American Samoa, Democrats Abroad, Guam, North Dakota, U.S. Virgin Islands, Wyoming
March 4 2008 - Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota^[16], Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont
March 8, 2008 - Kansas
March 11, 2008 - Mississippi
March 18, 2008 - Illinois
April 2008 (date to be determined) - Alaska
April 1, 2008 - Pennsylvania
May 6, 2008 - Indiana, North Carolina^[17]
May 13, 2008 - West Virginia
May 20, 2008 - Kentucky, Oregon (primary)
May 27, 2008 - Washington (primary)^[18]
June 3, 2008 - Montana, South Dakota

[edit] Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008

[edit] Candidates

Main article: Official and potential 2008 United States presidential election Democratic candidates

The following have officially declared their candidacy for the 2008 Presidential Election by filing (or announcing plans to file) the necessary papers with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).

Joe Biden - U.S. Senator from Delaware

Hillary Clinton - U.S. Senator from New York

Christopher Dodd - U.S. Senator from Connecticut

John Edwards - former U.S. Senator from North Carolina

Mike Gravel - former U.S. Senator from Alaska

Dennis Kucinich - U.S. Representative from Ohio's 10th congressional district

Barack Obama - U.S. Senator from Illinois

Bill Richardson - Governor from New Mexico

[edit] Potential

The following are commonly included in polling of voters, though they have not filed with the FEC.

Wesley Clark - Retired US Army General, former Supreme Allied Commander NATO Europe, 2004 candidate.
Al Gore- Former Vice President

[edit] Withdrawn

Tom Vilsack - Former Governor From Iowa. Second to declare his candidacy (after Mike Gravel) and the first to withdraw from the race.

[edit] Notes and References

^ Democrats Release Statement One Year From Nevada Caucus. Nevada State Democratic Party (2007-01-19). Retrieved on February 19, 2007.
^ New Hampshire officials have stated that by state law, the NH Primary must be the first primary in the nation and must precede any similar contest by at least seven days, thus, the state may not abide by DNC approved dates. The DNC has threatened to withhold NH delegates if the state moves the primary earlier than the 22nd.
^ John DiStaso. "Obama heads to NH" (Fee required), New Hampshire Union Leader, 2006-12-09. Retrieved on January 19, 2007.
^ Facts About The 2008 Michigan Democratic Presidential Nominating Process. Michigan Democratic State Central Committee. Retrieved on March 25, 2007.
^ Arkansas Act 501 of 2005 (SB235 - As engrossed: S2/8/05 H2/22/05) (PDF). Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research, Information Systems Dept.. Retrieved on February 19, 2007.
^ Vogel, Nancy. "Senate agrees to move '08 vote to Feb.", Los Angeles Times, 2007-02-14. Retrieved on February 19, 2007.
^ Democrats re-elect chairman Stallings, change caucus date. Idaho Democratic Party (2007-03-05). Retrieved on March 6, 2007.
^ Associated Press. "New York Senate Endorses Feb. 5 Primary", Breitbart.com, 2007-03-21. Retrieved on March 21, 2007.
^ Krummy, Karen. "Colorado strongly showing interest in Feb. 5th", Colorado Confidential, 2007-03-08. Retrieved on March 8, 2008.
^ Bysiewicz Stands Up For Connecticut Voters- Proposes February 5th Presidential Primary Day (PDF). Office of Connecticut Secretary of State (2007-03-27). Retrieved on April 2, 2008.
^ Redmon, Jeremy. "House supports February primary", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2007-03-21. Retrieved on March 21, 2007.
^ Associated Press. "Tenn House approves earlier presidential primary", WMCTV, 2007-03-25. Retrieved on March 25, 2007.
^ Baehr, Richard. "The State of the Race: The Democrats", RealClearPolitics, 2007-03-05. Retrieved on March 6, 2007.
^ Walton, Don. "State Dems to hold presidential caucuses in '08", Lincoln Journal Star, 2007-02-11. Retrieved on February 12, 2007.
^ Associated Press. "Presidential caucus set for Feb. 10, 2008", MaineToday.com, 2007-01-22. Retrieved on January 22, 2007.
^ "Precinct Caucuses", Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, 2007-03-21. Retrieved on March 21, 2007.
^ "N. Carolina Legislature Considering Earlier Date", NC Legislature, 2007-03-25. Retrieved on March 25, 2007.
^ RCW 29A.56.020. Washington State Legislature. Retrieved on February 19, 2007.

v • d • e United States presidential election, 2008
Democratic primaries • Democratic primary polls • Democratic Convention	Republican primaries • Republican primary polls • Republican Convention Republican Candidates' Beliefs
Candidates: Biden • Dodd • Edwards (campaign ,views) • Clinton (campaign, views)^{(See discussion)} • Gravel (campaign, views) • Kucinich • Obama (campaign, views) Candidates with exploratory committees: Richardson Potential candidates: Clark • Gore	Candidates: Brownback • Cox • Giuliani (campaign, views) • Hunter • McCain (campaign, views) • Paul (campaign, views) • Romney (campaign, views) • Tancredo • T. Thompson (campaign, views) Candidates with exploratory committees: Gilmore • Huckabee Potential candidates: Gingrich • Hagel • Pataki • F. Thompson
Announced Third party candidates: Amondson (Prb.) • E. Brown (Grn.) • Burns (Lib.) • Hollist (Lib.) • Imperato (Ref.) • Kubby (Lib.) • Milnes (Lib.) • Parker (IGVA) • Phillies (Lib.), (Campaign) • C Smith (Lib.) • Stanhope (Lib.) • Swift (Grn.) • D. Thompson (Cst.)
Notable independent candidates: Moriarty • Schriner • Weltman • Bloomberg (unofficial)
General articles: Opinion polling (D • R) • Election timeline
Other 2008 elections: House • Senate • Gubernatorial
Federal Election Commission: Campaign filings of 2008 Presidential hopefuls