2008: First African-American President
The election year saw many visits to Ohio by presidential candidates and their campaigns. Chelsea Clinton visited CWRU to speak about her mother, Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton. Cleveland State University hosted the final Democratic debate between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama before the Ohio primary. The Case Republicans and Case Democrats sponsored a primary straw poll in the winter and a mock election in the fall.
A straw poll conducted on "Super Tuesday" (2/5/2008), a month before the Ohio primary, saw the students select Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee and John McCain as the Republican nominee for president.
Case Democrats organized an event in Strosacker Auditorium to watch Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
In the fall mock election CWRU students correctly predicted the election of Barack Obama as president.
| Ohio Popular Vote | National Popular Vote | Electoral Vote |
| Barack Obama (D) 2,940,044 (51.50%) John McCain (R) 2,677,820 (46.91%) Ralph Nader (Independent) 42,377 (0.74%) Bob Barr (Libertarian) 19,917 (0.35%) Chuck Baldwin (Constitution) 12,565 (0.22%) Cynthia McKinney (Green) 8,518 (0.15%) Richard Duncan (Independent) 3,905 (0.07%) Brian Moore (Socialist) 2,735 (0.05%) | Barack Obama (D) 9,498,516 (52.93%) John McCain (R) 59,948,323 (45.65%) Ralph Nader (Independent) 739,034 (0.56%) Bob Barr (Libertarian) 523,715 (0.40%) Chuck Baldwin (Constitution) 199,750 (0.15%) Cynthia McKinney (Green) 161,797 (0.12%) Brian Moore (Socialist) 6,538 Richard Duncan (Independent) 3,905 | Barack Obama (D) 365 John McCain (R) 173 |
Information was compiled by staff of the Case Western Reserve University Archives, October 2012.
