Interesting...WHO then were the first "Birthers"???
If I recall correctly, they were Hillary supporters and 9/11 Truthers.
Well, without boring you with too much detail, here's the broad strokes of Birtherism's early days before the election.
On June 9, 2008, a blogger at the National Review suggested that Obama could debunk a handful of stupid rumors by releasing his birth certificate. In order of decreasing plausibility, the rumors were that his middle name was Muhammed, that his first name at birth was "Barry," and lastly, that he was secretly born in Kenya. As the blogger wrote of the Kenyan birth rumor, "Rather unlikely, as it would require everyone in his family to lie about this in every interview and discussion with those outside the family since young Obama appeared on the scene."
Anyhow, after that post at NRO, overnight that particular rumor went from *incredibly* obscure to a hot topic of discussion at FR and other places online. Michelle Malkin, for instance, blogged about the NRO post, and multiple other blogs followed her. The first FR threads about Obama's birthplace and Constitutional eligibility were posted on June 9 and 10.
On June 12, the Obama campaign shared Obama's Certification of Live Birth with the Daily Kos, and also published it on Fight the Smears.
But Obama's birth and eligibility remained a hot topic at FR and other places online. Most of the established bloggers and online pundits who jumped on the Birther bandwagon were disgruntled Hillary fans: Larry Johnson, TexasDarlin, Ed Hale, etc. They saw the allegations as a way to deprive Obama of the party nomination.
Meanwhile, Polarik appeared over at Townhall, and started posting here at FR in late June. The first established conservative blogger to go Birther was Pam Geller, who started promoting the *other* bogus forensic expert, TechDude, in July 2008.
Berg (another disgrunted Hillary supporter, and a 9/11 Truther) filed the first Birther suit in August 2008. He gained some more online exposure after collaborating with Molotov Mitchell (definitely *not* a Democrat). WorldNetDaily started actively plugging Birtherism a couple of weeks before the election, and went into full-fledged promotion mode after election day, because they saw profit in it.
Long story short, the major players in proto-Birtherism for the first couple of months were mostly disgruntled Hillary fans. It's fair to say they were Democrats, but it's also fair to point out that many (if not most) of them voted for McCain in November. Also, there were major roles played by Pam Geller and FR (via Polarik) even before the DNC convention.
Finally, there's the matter of who started the initial rumor that Obama was secretly born in Kenya and smuggled into Hawaii as a newborn. The particular rumor that the NRO blogger was talking about. I know who started that rumor, and it wasn't a Democrat. But it only garnered followers when NRO made the mistake of putting it in the spotlight.