Perhaps the biggest surprise to emerge from the 2008 spring primary election results in Madison and Dane County was the fact that neither presidential contest ended up very close. Barack Obama soundly defeated Hillary Clinton by more than 35 points, wining decisively throughout rural and urban areas of the county. John McCain also won big over Mike Huckabee with a margin of more than 22 points.
Turnout throughout Dane County met projections, with some 52% of registered voters hitting the polls on Tuesday. The raw ward-by-ward numbers in the City of Madison look to have higher turnout, with numbers in the wards around the University of Wisconsin up markedly from the 2006 general fall election. Overall voters in the Democratic primary far outpaced those in the Republican, meanwhile, with 141,274 votes to 24,584 votes, respectively, a ratio of nearly 6 to 1.
The five primaries on the Dane County Board were decided, meanwhile. Scott McDonnel and J.P Heyn will be moving on to the spring general election in District 1, as will Paul Rusk and Ted Krez in District 12, Lisa Subeck and Ron Ferrell in District 15, Kurt Schlicht and Susan Beil in District 28, and Richard Pertzborn and Cynda K. Solberg in District 36.
Full election results are available in the unofficial canvass from the Dane County Clerk, with a list of the presidential and county board races following below.
Democratic presidential nomination
Barack Obama -- 95,359 (67.49%)
Hillary Clinton -- 44,168 (31.26 %)
John Edwards -- 752 (0.53%)
Dennis Kucinich -- 527 (0.37%)
Mike Gravel -- 95 (0.06%)
Uninstructed Delegation -- 91 (0.06%)
Billl Richardson -- 78 (0.05%)
Joe Biden -- 74 (0.05%)
Chris Dodd -- 73 (0.05%)
Write-in -- 57 (0.04%)
Republican presidential nomination
John McCain -- 13,805 (56.15%)
Mike Huckabee -- 8,226 (33.46%)
Ron Paul -- 1,614 (6.56%)
Mitt Romney -- 524 (2.13%)
Fred Thompson -- 164 (0.66%)
Rudy Giuliani -- 116 (0.47%)
Uninstructed Delegation -- 54 (0.21%)
Duncan Hunter -- 31 (0.12%)
Write-in -- 27 (0.10%)
Tom Tancredo -- 23 (0.09%)
Dane County Board District 1
Scott McDonell -- 1,299 (60.92%)
J.P. Heyn -- 364 (17.07%)
Dennis DeNure 275 (12.89%)
Write-in -- 194 (9.09%)
Dane County Board District 12
Paul Rusk -- 1,638 (59.54%)
Ted Krez -- 779 (28.31%)
Will Sandstrom -- 302 (10.97%)
Write-in -- 32 (1.16%)
Dane County Board District 15
Lisa Subeck -- 1,387 (46.35%)
Ron Ferrell -- 1,209 (40.40%)
Richard V. Brown -- 351 (11.73%)
Write-in -- 45 (1.50%)
Dane County Board District 28
Kurt Schlicht -- 1,337 (35.84%)
Susan Beil -- 1,018 (27.29%)
Jeanne Poast -- 756 (20.26%)
Tom Kavanaugh -- 605 (16.21%)
Write-in -- 14 (0.37%)
Dane County Board District 36
Richard Pertzborn -- 1,715 (58.89%)
Cynda K. Solberg -- 618 (21.22%)
Karen Kessenich -- 579 (19.88%)
Write-in -- 0 (0%)
More details on the full ward-by-ward results from the 2008 spring primary election is provided by the Dane County Clerk's office.
