From January 3 to June 5, 2012, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 2012 United States presidential election. President Barack Obama won the Democratic Party nomination by securing more than the required 2,383 delegates on April 3, 2012, after a series of primary elections and caucuses. He was formally nominated by the 2012 Democratic National Convention on September 5, 2012, in Charlotte, North Carolina.[2]

Quick Facts Candidate, Home state ...
2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries

 2008 January 3 to June 5, 2012 2016 
 
Candidate Barack Obama Uncommitted John Wolfe Jr.
Home state Illinois N/A Tennessee
Delegate count 3,514 72 23
Contests won 56[a] 0 0
Popular vote 8,044,659[1] 439,589[1] 116,639[1]
Percentage 90.1% 5.0% 1.3%


Previous Democratic nominee

Barack Obama

Democratic nominee

Barack Obama

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Primary race overview

The general expectation was that, with President Barack Obama having the advantage of incumbency and being the only viable candidate running, the race would be merely pro forma. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders reportedly considered challenging Obama in the primaries but decided not to run after then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid talked him out of it.[3]

Several of the lesser-known candidates made efforts to raise visibility. Some Occupy movement activists made an attempt to take over the Iowa caucuses,[4] and got about 2% of the vote for Uncommitted. With nine minor candidates on the ballot in New Hampshire, there was a debate at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire on December 19, 2011,[5] in which seven candidates participated. Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry bought time on television in order to show graphic commercials denouncing abortion.[6]

Three candidates – other than Obama – who had been on the ballot in New Hampshire were also on the ballot in Missouri. One such candidate, Randall Terry, attempted to air graphic TV commercials during Super Bowl XLIV, but was met with resistance from various TV stations[7][8] in some locations. The Democratic National Committee also tried to stop the ads by claiming that Terry was not a legitimate Democratic candidate even though he was legally on the ballot.[9]

A number of partisans of Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, challenging the legitimacy of Obama's birthright citizenship, attempted to have the President's name removed from the Georgia primary ballot. A state administrative judge upheld a subpoena, which was ignored by the President and his staff.[10] In February 2012, the activists' legal challenge was rejected by a Georgia state law judge and by the Secretary of State of Georgia, and Obama remained listed on the primary ballot.[11][12]

On May 8, 2012, Keith Russell Judd, an inmate serving a 17.5-year sentence, won 41% of the primary vote in West Virginia against incumbent Barack Obama, a higher percentage of the vote in one state than any other primary opponent of Obama had hitherto achieved in 2012.[13][14] Shortly thereafter, attorney John Wolfe, Jr. won 42% of the primary vote in Arkansas after widespread speculation that Wolfe could possibly pull off an upset of the state.[15]

Challengers to President Obama only qualified for the ballot in eight states – New Hampshire, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Alaska – while a ninth (Ohio) was going to have Randall Terry on the ballot, but removed his name before the ballots were printed. Randall Terry also attempted to contest the Kansas caucus, but was denied a spot on the caucus ballot after the state's Democratic Party determined that he didn't meet the requirements.[16]

Darcy Richardson suspended his bid for the nomination on April 28, 2012. He still appeared on the ballot in Texas and was an eligible write-in candidate in California after suspending his campaign.[17]

Four states canceled their respective Democratic primaries altogether, citing Obama being the only candidate to qualify on their respective ballot: Connecticut,[18] Delaware,[19] New York,[20] and Virginia.[21]

Despite the limited opposition and ultimately receiving 100% of the pledged delegates, Obama's total percentage of the national popular primary vote was the lowest of any incumbent since the contested 1992 election when George H. W. Bush was challenged by Pat Buchanan.

Even without any clear candidate opposition, Obama faced a considerable amount of resistance in several southern states such as Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky. None of the three had been contested by the same anti-Obama candidate, yet ran significant margins, to the point some speculated he would lose these contests.

Performance of losing candidates

Obama was on the ballot in all states, where he ran mostly unopposed. In addition to Obama, the following table lists those candidates that attained ballot status in at least one state,[22] as well as those states that listed "Uncommitted"[23] or "No Preference"[24] as an option:

More information Candidate, Votes ...
Candidate Votes Delegates States on ballot
"Uncommitted" or "No Preference" 426,336 72 9 (AL, DC, KY, MA, MD, MI, MO, MT, NC, RI, TN)
John Wolfe, Jr. 117,033 0 (23) 5 (AR, LA, MO, NH, TX)
Darcy Richardson 109,764 0 5 (LA, MO, NH, OK, TX)
Keith Russell Judd[25] 73,138 0 (1) 1 (WV)
Bob Ely 29,947 0 4 (LA, NH, OK, TX)
Randall Terry 22,734 0 (7) 4 (AK, MO, NH, OK)
Jim Rogers 15,535 0 (3) 1 (OK)
Ed Cowan 945 0 1 (NH)
Vermin Supreme 833 0 1 (NH)
John D. Haywood 423 0 1 (NH)
Craig Freis 400 0 1 (NH)
Cornelius Edward O'Connor 266 0 1 (NH)
Edward T. O'Donnell 222 0 1 (NH)
Bob Greene 213 0 1 (NH)
Scott W. Stey 155 0 1 (NH)
Aldous C. Tyler 106 0 1 (NH)
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Second-place by state

Thumb

Map of second-place candidates in the 2012 Democratic presidential primaries
     Keith Russell Judd       Ron Paul       Darcy Richardson       John Wolfe Jr.       Randall Terry
     Uncommitted/other       No second-place finisher       No primary held/ no info available

Counties carried

Thumb

     Barack Obama       John Wolfe Jr.       Keith Russell Judd       Bob Ely       Randall Terry      Jim Rogers
     Uncommitted       Tie        No votes/information available

Candidates

Nominee

More information Candidate, Most recent office ...
Candidate Most recent office Home state Campaign

Withdrawal date

Popular

vote

Contests won Running mate
Barack Obama Thumb President of the United States
(2009–2017)
Illinois
Illinois
Thumb

(CampaignPositions)
Secured nomination: April 3, 2012

6,158,064

(88.9%)

56
Joe Biden
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Withdrew during primaries

Delegate allocation

The number of pledged delegates allocated to each of the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. is based on two main factors: (1) the proportion of votes each state gave to the Democratic candidate in the last three presidential elections, and (2) the number of electoral votes each state has in the United States Electoral College. In addition, fixed numbers of delegates are allocated to Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Democrats Abroad under the party's delegate selection rules.[26] Depending on each state's law and each state's party rules, when voters cast ballots for a candidate in a presidential caucus or primary, they may be voting to actually award delegates bound to vote for a particular candidate at the state or national convention (binding primary or caucus), or they may simply be expressing an opinion that the state party is not bound to follow in selecting delegates to the national convention (non-binding primary or caucus).

States are awarded bonus pledged delegates if they schedule their primary or caucus later in the primary season. Those states with April dates are awarded a 10 percent increase, while those who schedule from May 1 to June 12 get a 20 percent increase. And starting on March 20, a 15 percent bonus is awarded when clusters of three or more neighboring states begin on the same day.[26]

The unpledged superdelegates included members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate, state and territorial governors, members of the Democratic National Committee, and other party leaders. Because of possible deaths, resignations, or the results of intervening or special elections, the final number of these superdelegates was not known until the week of the convention.

Some delegates committed to candidates other than the President were not permitted to be elected in contested primaries for administrative reasons.[27][28][29]

Calendar

Primary schedule

The date for the first determining step for election of pledged delegates, is listed for each of the 56 constituencies. Northern Mariana Islands caucuses were only organized for Republicans and not for Democrats in 2012.

More information Date in 2012, State or territory ...
Date in 2012[30] State or territory Type[30] Pledged delegates Super-delegates Total delegates[26] Obama # Obama % Other # Other % Source
January 3 Iowa nonbinding caucus 54 11 65 8,064 98.9% 88 1.1% [31]
January 10 New Hampshire semi-closed primary 28 7 35 49,080 81.3% 11,295 18.7% [32]
January 21 Nevada nonbinding caucus 36 8 44 98.3% 1.7% [33]
January 28 South Carolina open primary 56 6 62 100% 0%
February 7 Missouri primary 89 13 102 64,435 88.4% 8,453 11.6% [34]
March 6 Oklahoma primary 45 5 50 64,389 57.1% 48,382 42.9% [35]
March 6 Massachusetts primary 110 26 136 127,909 86.5% 19,964 13.5% [36]
March 6 Colorado caucus 72 14 86 100% 0%
March 6 Ohio primary 174 17 191 542,086 100% 0% [37]
March 6 Tennessee primary 82 9 91 80,705 88.5% 10,504 11.5% [38]
March 6 Georgia primary 110 14 124 139,273 100% (0%) 0% [39]
March 6 Virginia primary 106 18 124 (0%)# 0% (0%)
March 6 Vermont primary 18 9 27 40,247 98.4% 675 1.6% [40]
March 6 American Samoa caucus 6 6 12
March 6-31 Maine convention 106 18 124
March 6-April 8 Minnesota convention 91 16 107 16,733 96.3% 643 3.7% [41]
March 7 Hawaii caucus 26 9 35 1,316 96.91% 42 3.09% [42]
March 13 Alabama primary 63 6 69 241,167 84.09% 45,613 15.91% [43]
March 13 Mississippi primary 40 5 45 97,304 100% (0%) [44]
March 13 Utah caucus 29 5 34 100% 0%
March 20 Illinois primary 189 26 215 652,583 99.99% 134 0.01% [45]
March 24 Louisiana primary 64 8 72 115,150 76.46% 35,451 23.54% [46]
March 31 Arizona caucuses 70 10 80 100% 0% [47]
April 3 District of Columbia primary 22 23 45 56,503 97.4% 1,486 2.6% [48]
April 3 Maryland primary 97 27 124 288,766 88.5% 37,704 11.5% [49]
April 3 Wisconsin primary 100 11 111 293,914 97.9% 6,341 2.1% [50]
April 10–14 Alaska caucus 19 5 24 500 100% 0% [51]
April 14 Nebraska caucus 38 6 44 *63,881 100% 0% [52]
April 14 Kansas convention 49 4 53
April 14 Wyoming caucus 18 4 22
April 14 Idaho caucus 27 4 31
April 15 Washington caucus 105 15 120
April 21 Texas convention 260 27 287 520,410 88.2% 69,754 11.8% [53]
April 24 Connecticut primary 73 15 88
April 24 New York primary 337 47 384
April 24 Pennsylvania primary 228 22 250 616,102 100% 0% [54]
April 24 Rhode Island primary 32 8 40 6,759 83.4% 1,348 16.6% [55]
May 1–6 Democrats Abroad primary 15 4 19 2,709 99.09% 25 0.91% [56]
May 5 Florida caucus (after a nonbinding primary)1 276 24 300 100% 0%
May 5 Guam primary 7 5 12 700 100% 0% [57]
May 5 Michigan caucus 183 20 203 174,054 89.30% 20,833 10.7% [58]
May 8 Indiana primary 96 9 105 221,466 100% 0% [59]
May 8 North Carolina primary 139 18 157 766,077 79.23% 200,810 20.77% [60]
May 8 West Virginia primary 36 11 47 106,770 59.35% 73,138 40.65% [61]
May 15 Oregon primary 70 14 84 309,358 94.79% 16,998 5.21% [62]
May 22 Arkansas primary 47 8 55 94,852 58.4% 67,491 41.6% [63]
May 22 Kentucky primary 66 7 73 119,293 57.8% 86,925 42.2% [64]
May 1-30 Delaware primary 23 10 33
June 2–3 U.S. Virgin Islands convention 7 6 13
June 3 Puerto Rico primary 60 7 67
June 5 California primary 547 62 609 2,075,905 99.99% 404 0.01% [65]
June 5 Montana primary 24 7 31 79,932 89.77% 8,270 10.23% [66]
June 5 New Jersey primary 153 19 172 283,673 100% 0% [67]
June 5 New Mexico primary 39 11 50 122,958 100% 0% [68]
June 5 North Dakota caucus 22 5 27
June 5 South Dakota primary 22 7 29
Jan 3 - Jun 5 All 56 constituencies - 4,826 726 5,552 - - [26]
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* - Unopposed # - Primary Canceled

Notes

  1. Florida's legislature set the date for its primary on January 31, violating the scheduling guidelines of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The DNC has since declared Florida's primary as nonbinding, and therefore an alternate delegate selection system consisting of county caucuses will now take place on May 5, followed by a state convention in June.[needs update]
  2. Randall Terry collected 18% of the votes, winning twelve counties, in the Oklahoma primary, qualifying him for seven delegates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Jim Rogers collected 13% of the votes, winning three counties, qualifying him for three delegates (one from each of three congressional districts where he collected over 15%).[69]

State results

Quick Facts Candidate, Home state ...
New Hampshire Democratic Primary, 2012

 2008 January 11, 2012 (2012-01-11) 2016 
  Thumb Thumb
Candidate Barack Obama Ron Paul
Home state Illinois Texas
Delegate count 10 0
Popular vote 49,080 2,289
Percentage 80.91% 3.77%
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New Hampshire
A Democratic presidential candidates debate, held at Saint Anselm College in December 2011, was attended by seven candidates; Obama did not participate.[5] A total of 60,659 votes were cast in the primary. Obama won with 49,080 votes. The total votes cast were more than 30 percent fewer than in 1996, the last time that a Democratic president ran for re-election without significant opposition.[70] As is typical in New Hampshire primaries, there were a number of write in votes for politicians from the other party.

More information Candidate, Votes ...
Candidate Votes[71] Percentage Delegates
Barack Obama (incumbent) 49,080 80.91% 10
Ron Paul 2,289 3.77% -
Mitt Romney 1,814 2.99% -
Jon Huntsman 1,238 2.04% -
Ed Cowan 945 1.56% -
Vermin Supreme 833 1.37% -
Randall Terry 446 1% -
Scatter 772 1.27% -
John D. Haywood 423 0.70% -
Craig Freis 400 0.66% -
Rick Santorum 302 0.50% -
Bob Ely 287 0.47% -
Newt Gingrich 276 0.46% -
Cornelius Edward O'Connor 265 0.44% -
Darcy Richardson 264 0.44% -
John Wolfe, Jr. 245 0.40% -
Edward T. O'Donnell 222 0.37% -
Bob Greene 213 0.35% -
Robert B. Jordan 155 0.26% -
Aldous C. Tyler 106 0.17% -
Buddy Roemer 29 0.05% -
Fred Karger 26 0.04% -
Rick Perry 17 0.03% -
Stewart Greenleaf 4 0.01% -
Gary Johnson 4 0.01% -
Michael Meehan 4 0.01% -
Michele Bachmann 2 0.00% -
Herman Cain 1 0.00% -
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Oklahoma

More information Oklahoma Democratic primary, March 6, 2012, Candidate ...
Oklahoma Democratic primary, March 6, 2012[72]
Candidate Votes Percentage Delegates
Barack Obama (incumbent) 64,330 57.09% 35
Randall Terry 20,302 18.02% 7
Jim Rogers 15,540 13.79% 3
Darcy Richardson 7,197 6.39% 0
Bob Ely 5,322 4.72% 0
Unprojected delegates: 45
Total: - - 45
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Louisiana

More information Louisiana Democratic primary, March 24, 2012, Candidate ...
Louisiana Democratic primary, March 24, 2012
Candidate Votes Percentage Delegates
Barack Obama (incumbent) 115,150 76.45% 62
John Wolfe Jr. 17,804 11.83% 3
Bob Ely 9,897 6.57% -
Darcy Richardson 7,750 5.15% -
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Missouri

More information Missouri Democratic primary, February 7, 2012, Candidate ...
Missouri Democratic primary, February 7, 2012
Candidate Votes percentage Delegates
Barack Obama (incumbent) 64,366 88.39% 89
Randall Terry 1,998 2.74% -
John Wolfe Jr. 1,000 1.37% -
Darcy Richardson 873 1.20% -
uncommitted 4,580 6.29% -
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Arkansas

More information Arkansas Democratic primary, May 22, 2012, Candidate ...
Arkansas Democratic primary, May 22, 2012
Candidate Votes percentage Delegates
Barack Obama (incumbent) 94,936 58.37% 55
John Wolfe Jr. 67,711 41.63% -
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See also

Notes

  1. The Northern Mariana Islands was not allocated any delegates by the DNC.

References

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