2008 United States presidential election (Bush dies)

The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Joe Lieberman, the junior Senator from Connecticut, and John Kerry, the junior Senator from Massachusetts, defeated the incumbent Republican president, Dick Cheney, and incumbent vice president, Jeb Bush. Lieberman became only the third sitting United States Senator elected president, joining Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, Kerry became the first senator running mate of a senator elected president since Lyndon B. Johnson (who was Kennedy's running mate) in the 1960 election.

Cheney took office on May 10, 2005, following the assassination of his predecessor, George W. Bush. He won the Republican primaries against Arizona senator John McCain in what pundits called an unusually close primary for a president facing re-election after the assassination of his predecessor. Lyndon B. Johnson and Teddy Roosevelt had both won easily in 1964 and 1904 respectively. Still, Cheney carried 72% of the delegates and secured the nomination without much controversy.

Lieberman won the democratic nomination in a crowded primary field which included New York senator Hillary Clinton and Illinois senator Barack Obama. He championed a moderate platform that sought to take votes away from the conservative ticket of Cheney and Bush. During the election, he also promised some progressive reforms to health care and voting rights.

Lieberman carried 21 states, the District of Columbia and Nebraska's 2nd congressional district in what turned out to be one of the closest elections in U.S history. Securing the bare minimum for a majority, 270 electoral votes, Lieberman narrowly won the election after a recount in New Mexico gave him the edge by 2,128 votes. Many likened this election to the extremely close election in 2000 in which George W. Bush narrowly won against senator Al Gore after a recount in Florida secured him the state by just over 500 votes.

Assassination of George W. Bush
On May 10, 2005, while President Bush was giving a speech in the Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia, Vladimir Arutyunian threw a Soviet-made RGD-5 hand grenade at the podium. The grenade landed about 5 feet from Bush and detonated. The blast killed Bush, his wife Laura, as well as President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia. Sandra Roelofs, the First Lady of Georgia, was critically wounded by survived. Secret Service agent Michael Hawes was also injured and died later in hospital. Back in the United State, Vice President Dick Cheney was awoken and sworn in by Associate Justice David Souter (Rehnquist was out of the state during the incident). Cheney made an announcement alongside deputy press secretary Dana Perino in the afternoon announcing Bush's death.

Close States
States in which the margin of victory was under 1% (31 electoral votes)
 * 1)  New Mexico 0.26% (2,128 votes) 
 * 2)  Missouri 0.39% (11,903 votes) 
 * 3)  North Carolina 0.43% (16,177 votes)