Hawaii Republican caucuses, 2008
Encyclopedia
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
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Process
The Hawaii Republican PartyHawaii Republican Party
The Hawaii Republican Party is the state affiliate of the Republican Party of the United States. Based in Honolulu, the party is a central organization established for the promotion of the party platform as it is drafted in convention every other year...
held its caucuses in all 51 Hawaii House of Representatives
Hawaii House of Representatives
The Hawaii House of Representatives is the lower house of the Hawaii State Legislature. Accord to Article III, Section 3 of the Hawaii Constitution, amended during the 1978 constitutional convention, the House of Representatives consists of 51 members representing an equal amount of districts...
districts. Caucus-goers selected 1,093 delegates to the Hawaii State Convention, held between May 16 and 18. These 1,093 delegates selected 19 delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention
2008 Republican National Convention
The United States 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008...
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Republican caucuses in Hawaii tend to be informal, taking place in parks, businesses, and homes over the course of several days. The Republican caucuses in Hawaii were closed to non-party members. None of the local delegates chosen at the caucus were committed to any candidate at the state convention. They were, however, bound to the preferences stated in the state convention in the first ballot. For this reason, Hawaiian Republican caucusgoers normally vote for convention delegates based on the delegates' personal records rather than their pledged support for a presidential candidate. However, most contenders provided slates of qualified delegates for caucusgoers to vote on.
State convention
Unlike most Republican caucuses, no straw pollStraw poll
A straw poll or straw vote is a vote with nonbinding results. Straw polls provide dialogue among movements within large groups, reflecting trends like organization and motivation...
or presidential preference poll was taken of the attendees. Thus, no official record was provided of Hawaiian caucusgoers' preferences for President. Hawaii's delegation to the national convention, which selected the President, was chosen only at the state convention, held in Honolulu between May 16 and 18.
The convention chose seventeen national convention delegates and seventeen alternates, all of them supporters of John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, already the presumptive Republican nominee for President for some weeks before the state convention. Over 450 delegates from all of Hawaii's electoral districts attended the convention. They elected state committee members and chose a party platform
Party platform
A party platform, or platform sometimes also referred to as a manifesto, is a list of the actions which a political party, individual candidate, or other organization supports in order to appeal to the general public for the purpose of having said peoples' candidates voted into political office or...
as well as delegates to the Republican National Convention. All in all, over 600 Republicans were at the state convention.
See also
- Hawaii Democratic caucuses, 2008Hawaii Democratic caucuses, 2008The 2008 Hawaii Democratic Presidential Caucuses took place on February 19, 2008, with 20 pledged delegates at stake. The winner in each of Hawaii's two congressional districts was awarded all of that district's delegates, totaling 13. Another seven delegates were awarded to both candidates at the...
- Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008The 2008 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election...