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.