Last state called: Mo. goes to McCain

ByABC News
November 19, 2008, 5:48 PM

ST. LOUIS -- The streak is over.

After correctly predicting the winning candidate in the last 13 presidential elections, Missourians picked Sen. John McCain over Sen. Barack Obama.

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

It is the first time a Democratic candidate won the presidency without Missouri and could signal the end of the Show Me State's status as a bellwether.

A possible factor: the dwindling number of ethnic minorities even as the nation becomes more diversified, said Jeff Smith, a Democratic state senator from St. Louis.

"When you think of middle America, you think of Missouri," Smith said. "But the country is getting increasingly diverse. And Missouri is lagging behind."

Located smack in the center of the country, Missouri has long represented the demographics and culture of the USA, said Dave Robertson, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

But that's quickly changing. Missouri has a higher-than-average number of evangelical Christian residents and fewer Latinos (3%) than the national average (15%), Robertson said.

"The strength of evangelicals remains a very formidable part of the Republican coalition that has to be reckoned with well into the future," Robertson said.

Democrats did vote in Jeremiah "Jay" Nixon as governor. He beat out Republican Kenny Hulshof to replace Matt Blunt, also a Republican.

African-American and student voters mobilized across the state early for Obama, often lining up at polls before dawn. Eddie Caumiant, an Obama volunteer, arrived at Yeatman-Liddell Preparatory Junior High, in a predominantly black neighborhood of St. Louis, at 5 a.m. on Election Day, expecting thin crowds, he said. Instead, several hundred voters were already lined up, he said.

At St. Louis University, student voters began lining up about 5 a.m. More than 2,200 students registered for the presidential election, a school record, university officials said. Many of them were for Obama.

"He really connects with the American people and students," said Samantha Minor, 20, a junior communications major. "He had to pay back his student loans, too."

Both camps courted Missourians and the 11 electoral votes they represented in the days leading up to the election. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Democratic running mate Joe Biden and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton all held rallies the weekend before the vote.

The battle for Missouri played out in the suburbs and rural neighborhoods. The Obama campaign worked hard in the rural areas. Of the 44 Obama campaign offices across the state, 29 were in rural areas, said Justin Hamilton, an Obama spokesman in Missouri.

By comparison, the McCain campaign had 15 offices across the state, spokeswoman Wendy Riemann said. Volunteers spread out through rural areas, spreading the Republican message of lower taxes and less government, said Gentry Collins, who directed McCain's Midwest efforts from Iowa. "Missouri is still slightly right of center and still values the Second Amendment," Collins said. "They're not looking for a liberal candidate."

State office

Democrat Jay Nixon, Missouri's longest-serving attorney general, won election as governor Tuesday by turning back Republican Congressman Kenny Hulshof.

Nixon fared well among all ages and races of voters and in both urban and rural parts of Missouri.

He ran on a dual platform of experience and change, referring to his record 16 years of service as attorney general and to his party's out-of-power status for the past four years. His blue, orange and white campaign banners proclaimed: "Jay Nixon. Independent. Experienced. The Change We Need."

Change was guaranteed after Republican Gov. Matt Blunt unexpectedly announced in January that he would not seek a second term. Nixon will become Missouri's fifth governor in 10 years when he is sworn into office in January 2009.