• Alaska has three electoral votes, which went to Republican nominee John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Democrat Barack Obama was the night's eventual winner. From March through mid-July, the two candidates were virtually tied for votes in the state. In mid-July, however, McCain began pulling away, gaining a more than five percentage point lead over Obama heading into the November 4 general election. McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, is the current governor of Alaska.

• 1. 62% of voters picked "the economy" as their number 1 concernCNN: Economy most important issue, polls show (November 4, 2008)
  2. 10% of voters picked "Iraq" as number 1 concernCNN: Economy most important issue, polls show (November 4, 2008)
  3. Electoral votes: Three
  4. Registered voters: 490,656 by October 2008Alaska Politics Blog: Increase in Alaska voter registration (October 14, 2008)
  5. Democratic Primary/Caucus winner: Barack Obama
  6. Republican Primary/Caucus winner: Mitt Romney
  7. McCain's vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, is the current governor of Alaska

• Weeks for Results?

  Alaska election officials have indicated they will not begin to count the tens of thousands of absentee ballots mailed in until the day after the general election. Even then, officials warn the process could take several days. If there are close races in Alaska, this could put off final election results for up to two weeks.MLive.com: It may take weeks to name Alaska winner (October 31, 2008)

• Past Alaska Winners

  1. 2004: George W. Bush
  2. 2000: George W. Bush
  3. 1996: Bob Dole
  4. 1992: George H. W. Bush

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