The United States presidential election of 2008 was held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, to elect the President of the United States. It was the 56th consecutive quadrennial election for President and Vice President. It was the first presidential election since 1968 that more than three parties ran to carry at least one state each. Independent candidate Barack Hussein Obama, Junior Senator from Illinois, defeated Libertarian Party Candidate, former Secretary of Treasury Ron Paul; Democratic Party candidate, Chesapeake Senator Joe Biden; and Republican Governor of Missouri, Mike Huckabee. Charles Malcolm Edwards, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. This was also the first election in 56 years where ther