While the Republican primaries have gotten all the attention, many of the states that have voted have also held Democratic primaries or caucuses — and in Oklahoma’s primary on Tuesday, President Obama only won 57 percent of the vote.
Oklahoma is one of the most conservative states in the union, and the state’s lone Democratic member of Congress has been critical of Mr. Obama, so it’s not surprising some Democratic voters would seek an alternative to Mr. Obama.
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Coming in second with 18 percent of the vote was Randall Terry, a pro-life activist who founded Operation Rescue, which made its reputation blocking abortion clinics. And in third place was Jim Rogers, an Oklahoman who was Democrats’ nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2010 and who won 14 percent of the vote.
The Tulsa World reported that Mr. Terry had run “gruesome” television ads in the state, and vowed to try to use Oklahoma to become a bigger player in Democratic primaries going forward.
His showing didn’t gain much attention in network coverage, so it’s not clear how well he succeeded in that goal — but given that he cleared the 15 percent threshold and that Oklahoma awarded delegates to the nominating convention proportionally, Mr. Terry will be awarded delegates.
In most states Mr. Obama was the only name on the ballot, so protest votes weren’t allowed.
But others did make the ballot in some states.
According to TheGreenPapers.com, which tracks primary and caucus voting, Mr. Obama has won more than 83 percent of all votes cast in the Democratic primary process in 2012.
Among other vote-getters on the Democratic side, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has won nearly 2,000 votes — which is more than five times the number of votes Mr. Obama has won in the GOP’s contests, despite a turnout more than 10 times higher on the Republican side.
