Tennessee

TENNESSEE

11 Electoral Votes

Population
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
Total Population, July 2007 est. 6,156,719
Total Registration, Dec. 1, 2007 active 3,287,103
(Tennessee does not register voters by party).
Tennessee has: 95 counties.
Largest counties: Shelby, Davidson, Knox, Hamilton, Rutherford. >
Largest cities: Memphis, Nashville-Davidson, Knoxville, Chattanooga. >

Government
Governor: Phil Bredesen (D) elected Nov.2002; re-elected in 2006.
State Legislature: Tennessee General Assembly House: 99 seats Senate: 33 seats
Local: Counties NACO Counties
U.S. House: 5R, 4D - 1. D.Davis (R) | 2. J.Duncan (R) | 3. Z.Wamp (R) | 4. L.Davis (R) | 5. J.Cooper (D) | 6. B.Gordon (D) | 7. M.Blackburn (R) | 8. J.Tanner (D) | 9. S.Cohen (D).
U.S. Senate: Lamar Alexander (R) up for re-election in 2008, Bob Corker (R) elected in 2006.

The Volunteer State

State of Tennessee
Department of State

Constitution Party of TN
Libertarian Party of TN
TN Democratic Party
TN Green Party
TN Republican Party

The Tennessean
Newspapers
TV, Radio
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Politics1-TN

[Primary Election: Aug. 7, 2008]

Presidential Preference Primary -- Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Early and absentee voting - Jan. 16-31, 2008: 320,939 votes (27.23% of 1,178,579 total votes).

Democrats
85 Delegates (68 Pledged and 17 Unpledged) and 11 Alternates.
2.10% of the 4,047 Delegate Votes.

Clinton | Obama

Official Results

Joe Biden
1,531

0.25%

+Hillary Clinton
336,245

53.82%

Chris Dodd
526

0.08%

John Edwards
27,820

4.45%

Mike Gravel
461

0.07%

Dennis Kucinich
971

0.16%

Barack Obama
252,874

40.48%

Bill Richardson
1,178

0.18%

Uncommitted
3,158

0.51%

Total
624,764

Former Vice President Al Gore inspired a persistent draft movement and his role in the 2008 campaign is still much speculated upon (whom will he endorse, could he play a broker role or even join a ticket as the vice presidential nominee).

Tennesseans For Russ Feingold

Republicans
55 Delegates: 3 RNC, 25 at-large and 27 CD (3 x 9 CDs).
2.31% of the 2,380 Delegates.

Allocation: At-large are winner-take-all, if receive 66% of statewide vote; otherwise,
proportional w/ 20% threshold. CD are winner-take-all, if receive 66% of statewide vote; otherwise, proportional w/ 20% threshold.

Huckabee | McCain | Paul | Romney | FThompson

Official Results

Rudy Giuliani
5,159

0.93%

Mike Huckabee
190,904

34.47%

Duncan Hunter
738

0.13%

Alan Keyes
978

0.18%

John McCain
176,091

31.80%

Ron Paul
31,026

5.60%

Mitt Romney
130,632

23.59%

Tom Tancredo
194

0.04%

Fred Thompson
16,263

2.94%

Uncommitted
1,830

0.33%

Total
553,815

Former Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist (R) was seen as a possible 2008 candidate but ruled out a campaign on Nov. 29, 2006. >

Setting the Primary Date
Tennessee Code (Title 2, Chapter 13, Part 2: 2-13-205) formerly set out the date of the presidential preference primary as the second Tuesday in February. On March 22, 2007 the House passed HB2211 to move the date for presidential preference primary to the first Tuesday in February by a vote of 91-2 (and 1 present); the Senate followed on April 16 and Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) signed the legislation into law on April 30.

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 3, 2004. Registration in person depends on each county election commission’s office hours, either October 1 or 2, 2004.

Early voting: October 13-28, 2004.

Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)
1,036,477

(42.53)

Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
1,384,375
(56.80)

Michael Badnarik (Ind.) 4,866 (0.20)

Ralph Nader (Ind.) 8,992
(0.37)

Michael Peroutka (Ind.)
2,570

(0.11)

Walt Brown (w/in)
6

-

David Cobb (win)
33

-

Total........2,437,319

Total Votes Cast: 2,456,610
Early Votes: 1,107,398 (45.08% of total votes)
Absentee by Mail: 54,495 2004 Overview
Bush won Tennessee with a comfortable plurality of 347,898 votes (14.27 percentage points), carrying 77 counties to 18 for Kerry.
General Election Details
Kerry/Allies | Bush-Cheney '04

(State Primary: August 5, 2004)

Past Results

1996

Clinton (Dem.).......909,146
(48.00)

Dole (Rep.)............863,530
(45.59)

Perot (Ind.)...........105,918
(5.59)

Others (7+scat.)......16,111
(0.85)

Total........1,894,105

399,317 early votes/1,918,156 total votes-20.82%
1992

Clinton (Dem.).......933,521
(47.08)

Bush (Rep.)...........841,300
(42.43)

Perot (Ind.)............199,968
(10.08)

Others (11+w/ins)......7,849
(0.40)

Total........1,982,638

2000

Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)
981,720

(47.28)

+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
1,061,949

(51.14)

C.G.Brown/S.Allen (Ind.)
1,606

(0.08)

Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
4,284

(0.21)

Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)
4,250

(0.20)

Hagelin/Goldhaber (Ref.)
613

(0.03)

Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)
19,781
(0.95)

Phillips/Frazier (Ind.)
1,015
(0.04)

R.Venson/G.Kelly (Ind.)
535

(0.03)

Write-Ins
428

(0.02)

Total........2,076,181

Total Votes Cast: 2,100,241
15-day early voting period: Oct. 18-Nov. 2, 2000. 749,170 early votes (35.67% of total).
There were also 47,954 absentee by mail voters.
2000 Overview
Vice President Gore represented Tennessee for 16 years as a congressman and Senator. He still owns a farm in Carthage near where his mother lives. He moved his national campaign headquarters to Nashville from Washington, DC in October 1999. However, he still could not carry his home state; Gov. Bush won with a plurality of 80,299 votes (3.86 percentage points), carrying 59 counties to 36 for Gore.
General Election Activity

Presidential Preference Primary -- Tuesday, February 10, 2004

On May 5, 2003 the House passed HB 432 by a vote of 90 to 0 and on May 28 the Senate approved the measure in a 31 to 0 vote >. A provision of the bill changed the date of the presidential preference primary from the second Tuesday in March to the second Tuesday in February. Tennessee has early voting, starting 20 days before an election, on January 21, 2004.

T.C.A. 2-5-205 sets out two ways for candidate to appear on the presidential preference primary ballot. In the first category are "persons who the secretary of state, in the secretary of state's sole discretion, has determined are generally advocated or recognized as candidates in national news media throughout the United States." The secretary of state is to submit such names to the state election commission. The second route is to submit nominating petitions signed by at least 2,500 registered voters of the party.

January 9, 2004 - Last day to register to vote in the Tennessee Presidential Primary.

January 21-February 5, 2004 - Early Voting.

CLARK DEAN EDWARDS KERRY KUCINICH former GEPHARDT

Democratic - Presidential Primary: Tuesday, February 10, 2004. 85 Delegates (69 Pledged, 16 Unpledged ) and 11 Alternates.

ballot Official Results

Votes

Percent

Carol Moseley Braun
2,490

0.67%

Wesley Clark
85,315

23.10%

Howard Dean
16,128

4.37%

John Edwards
97,914

26.51%

Dick Gephardt
1,402

0.38%

+John F. Kerry
151,527

41.02%

Dennis J. Kucinich
2,279

0.62%

Lyndon H. LaRouche
283

0.08%

Joseph I. Lieberman
3,213

0.87%

Al Sharpton
6,107

1.65%

Uncommitted
2,727

0.74%

Total
369,385

104,602 of the 369,385 votes, or 28.32%, were cast in the 14-day early voting period:

% of early
votes/day

1/21 5,963 5.7%

1/22 5,295 5.1%

1/23 5,615 5.4%

1/24 2,741 2.4%

1/26 6,080 5.8%

1/27 4,488 4.3%

1/28 5,619 5.4%

1/29 6,584 6.3%

1/30 7,345 7.0%

1/31 4,223 4.0%

2/2 7,637 7.3%

2/3 10,342 9.9%

2/4 16,052 15.3%

2/5 16,618 15.9%

Republican - Presidential Primary: Tuesday, February 10, 2004. 55 Delegates and Alternates.