McCain Wins Missouri, Breaking Bellwether Streak

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Republican John McCain has defeated President-elect Barack Obama in Missouri _ the last state to be decided in the 2008 presidential election.

McCain's narrow victory over Obama breaks a bellwether streak in which Missourians had picked the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1956.

With all jurisdictions reporting complete but unofficial results, McCain led Obama by 3,632 votes Wednesday out of more than 2.9 million cast _ a margin of 0.12 percentage points.

Both men spent considerable resources trying to win Missouri, a state that Obama ultimately did not need for his national victory.

Obama won 365 electoral votes. Missouri's 11 electoral votes will give McCain 173.

Comments

[hapiguy]

Obama gets another win,,,hey, its Missouri/Missora,,,the Election was the 4th,,,,,McCain lost missora,,,
but thanks for your time...unbelievable what goes on..maybe they can have a recount too....

[Kyuzo]

The people who live in Missouri need to acknowledge that the name of the state does not have an "A" in it.

[SurrealPumpkin]

They live there, they can pronounce it how they like. Otherwise people in Bogota, NJ; Lima, IN etc. are going to have problems.

[neesy08]

MSNBC's show Mornin Joe called it. They were wrong, the state never made a call, only projected it looked as if McCain would win about a few days later . They must do their counting by smoke signal!

[bikerdude]

So, that makes both McCain and Missouri losers, right?

[LameDuckHunting]

I hear McCain is demanding a recount.........................

[Mr Grey]

It's a whole new political world out there and old time bellwethers are going by the wayside.

[JJI]

Palin is calling a press conference to declare victory

[iwantpie]

LOL

[girlwild]

Missouri, the state where a dead man defeated then Senator John Ashcroft in the 2000 Senate race.

[almazza98]

that dead man was a Democrat and the Loser was Ashcroft, btw, I witnessed Ashcroft getting a wedgy at the Rams Celebration when the won a superbowl, the most funniest thing I have ever seen, I wish we had youtube back then.

[PATina]

I thought this state got called last week??? I swear I remember Mika on Morning Joe saying something similar to this headline... like, "I guess we can't refer to Missouri as a Bellweather state any longer". Maybe I was dreaming... hahahahahaha

[fem56]

Pretty darn close. The Obama volunteers did a great job here. Don't think I called this state but thank you to everyone who did.

[teemunney]

To paraphrase James Carville--Missouri is essentially St. Louis on one end, Kansas City on the other, and Alabama in the middle.

I'm not saying racism had something to do with this year, but I'm curious to know what the exit polls in MO said. Clinton won Missouri by healthy margins in 1992 and 1996, and the Jay Nixon (D) won the governor's race by 19 points. And Missouri was a slave state, after all. I go to college in St. Louis and the vote really got out in my neighborhood and in my university, so I can only think that not enough inroads was made in rural areas. With that said, a more representative bellwether is needed. Ohio, anyone?

[Dystopic]

I live in the Branson area, and the rproblem is too many militant hillbillies without the ability to think or get past their racist tendencies

[Topfeeder]

Carville really needs to come up with some new material. He said the same thing about Pennsylvania. Philly on one end Pittsburgh on the other and Alabama in the middle.

[StaninLA]

Carville? Don't they sell ice cream?

[neesy08]

Missouri was not a slave state

[flifishun]

neesy08, Yes, Missouri was a slave state.

[robXdion]

Failed that GED, huh?

[Catjya]

Teemunney, Carvile said that about Pa,not Missouri,fyi.racism reared it's ugly face in Mo.
However if you look outside the city of St louis,you'll see the rural areas is where Mccain won,the small
towns.Obama got over 50% in the counties.

[CARF]

I don't care what state Carville quoted, as it diffinately applies to Missouri too...

[teemunney]

Yeah, I know it was PA...my point was to say that Carville's quote applies to MO. I guess I shoulda made that clear :-)

[MissouriGirl]

Well ..... I'd say racism played a part in this election. 30,000 Missourians voted for the 3rd party candidate. We've never had those kind of numbers in that category. The only thing I would add to racism - is probably red neck. The rural areas in Missouri were brutal. "They don't see things as we do" [Ooops --- I was having a Palin flashback momentt] LOL. I'm just glad Barack won.

[SatinPanties]

To which Mc Cain Said at a press conference:

"We have Sen. Obama right where we want him!"

[jsrl317]

LOL!

[Pupadup4oBama]

Perfect! :)

[bluguy8]

i bet if there was a recount--Obama won it . but who cares anyway . the ole man lost

[justoverit333]

um, yippee

[Pupadup4oBama]

YEAH!

[ArthurTwoShedsJackson]

Chins up, Missourians! IIRC you still had the largest turnout for an Obama rally: 100,000 in St. Louis!

With the same hard effort, 2012 will show MO *and* dare I suggest it, MT flipping to BLUE!!

Yes you can Missouri!!

[Adeyemo]

As a Missourian I am not too surprised about the election outcome. It is easy for one to conclude that racism might have been a factor in the results. All the democratic candidates in statewide elections won except for the presidential. I am glad that Obama did not need to carry Missouri to win the election but I am pretty sure that he would win in 2012 if he decides to run. It takes those people in Missouri to accept that Obama is a highly qualified candidate. Wake Up Missouri.

[BeatrixK]

Adeyemo,

I am pretty disappointed in our state, but I totally agree with you. However, on a brighter, 2012 vote outlook, talking to my dad, a dyed-in-the-wool republican who I fought with more than ever this election season over our choice of candidatesa, he did admit he watched Obama's 60 minutes, interview, and found he was fairly impressed with Obama as a person, and was encouraged by some of the philosophies Obama puts forth. He said he was willing to give him a chance to prove himself. As I told him, you'd be amazed at the perspective you can get when you don't just stick to a diet of Faux news.

If Obama can impress my dad, I am hopeful other Missouri Republicans can realize he was the right man for the job, not just the kid from that tree-hugging, gay-marriage, tax and spend party.