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45 pledged delegates to the 2004 Democratic National Convention | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Iowa results by county John Kerry John Edwards Howard Dean Tie | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elections in Iowa |
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The 2004 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses were an election held on January 19 as part of the United States presidential primary. They were the first major test of some of the leading contenders for the Democratic Party's nomination as its candidate for the 2004 United States presidential election.
The first contenders for the nomination arrived in Iowa almost two years before the caucuses were held. The first to arrive were Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean, who began to make occasional speeches there and started to build an organization. In 2003, John Kerry, John Edwards, Carol Moseley Braun, and Dennis Kucinich all began to campaign heavily in the state.
Gephardt went into the campaign with high expectations. He was from a neighboring state, Missouri, had strong union backing, and he had won the state in 1988. During 2003, however, Howard Dean began to grow in popularity across the country on a strong anti-war message that appealed to the party base. Gephardt continued to do well, but Kerry and Edwards both sank to single-digit levels of support. Kucinich and Moseley Braun were never considered strong contenders and polled poorly throughout the campaign.
Three of the Democratic candidates sat out the caucuses. Joe Lieberman and Al Sharpton did not believe they could get sufficient support in the state and concentrated their efforts on New Hampshire. Wesley Clark got into the race too late to be competitive in Iowa.
On January 10, Howard Dean got a major boost when Iowa's senior Senator Tom Harkin endorsed him. [1] On January 15, Carol Moseley Braun withdrew from the race and also threw her support behind Dean. [2]
During the last weeks of the campaign, however, the polls began to indicate a significant change in support. Dean and Gephardt had been hammering each other with negative advertisements, and both began losing support to revived Edwards and Kerry campaigns. [3] Edwards received a major boost when he was endorsed by Iowa's largest newspaper.
Shortly before the caucus, Edwards and Kucinich reached an agreement in which they would ask their supporters to back the other camp in any precinct where they lacked the necessary numbers to qualify for delegates. [3] The deal was widely seen as a blow to the Gephardt campaign, which had expected to pick up the compatibly pro-union Kucinich supporters in such circumstances. [3]
The results were very similar to that indicated by last-minute polling but were a surprise compared with weeks earlier.
| 2004 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | State delegate equivalents | Percentage | National delegates |
| John Kerry | 1,128 | 37.6% | 20 |
| John Edwards | 954 | 31.8% | 18 |
| Howard Dean | 540 | 18.0% | 7 |
| Richard Gephardt | 318 | 10.6% | 0 |
| Dennis Kucinich | 39 | 1.3% | 0 |
| Wesley Clark | 3 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Uncommitted | 15 | 0.5% | — |
| Totals | 2,997 | — | 45 |
Source: Des Moines Register
It was reported that 124,331 Iowans participated in the caucuses. [4] The initial county caucuses assigned delegates for further caucuses with delegates not being bound to vote for the candidate. Actual delegates to the Democratic National Convention would be chosen later: 29 at the district caucuses on April 24, 2004 and 16 at the state convention on June 12, 2004. Besides these 45 delegates assigned through the caucus system, 10 other delegates are assigned by the state party and one is elected at large at the state convention. The successful candidate at the 2004 Democratic National Convention required approximately 2,160 delegates to win the nomination.
The results showed a similar pattern across the state. Dean failed to win the support of the college areas as he had hoped, and Gephardt was not successful in winning the union areas.
The Iowa caucuses revived the once moribund campaign of Kerry, who proceeded to the New Hampshire primary as one of the front-runners, and ultimately captured the Democratic nomination. Edwards, who had been written off even more than Kerry, used the Iowa results and the later South Carolina primary to give him another boost.
The results were a blow to Dean, who had for weeks been expected to win the caucuses. He planned afterward to move quickly to New Hampshire where he expected to do well and regain momentum. At the time, he had far more money than any other candidate and did not spend much of it in Iowa. Dean's aggressive post-caucus speech to his supporters, culminating with a hoarse scream that came to be known as the Dean scream, was widely shown and mocked on television, although the effect on his campaign was unclear.
The results were disastrous for Dick Gephardt. He had frequently stated that a win in Iowa was essential for his candidacy. He had been seen as the front-runner for well over a year but ended up fourth, effectively ending his campaign. He cancelled planned campaign stops in New Hampshire and dropped out of the race on January 20.
Dennis Kucinich was never expected to win much support in Iowa. His fifth-place finish did not affect his plans to continue campaigning.
From January 14 to June 8, 2004, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 2004 United States presidential election.
The following is a timeline of events during the 2004 U.S. presidential election:
From January 3 to June 3, 2008, voters of the Democratic Party chose their nominee for president in the 2008 United States presidential election. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was selected as the nominee, becoming the first African American to secure the presidential nomination of any major political party in the United States. However, due to a close race between Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, the contest remained competitive for longer than expected; neither candidate received enough pledged delegates from state primaries and caucuses to achieve a majority, without endorsements from unpledged delegates (superdelegates).
The 2008 Iowa Democratic presidential caucus occurred on January 3, and was the state caucuses of the Iowa Democratic Party. It was the first election for the Democrats of the 2008 presidential election. Also referred to as "the First in the Nation Caucus," it was the first election of the primary season on both the Democratic and Republican sides. Of the eight major Democratic presidential candidates, then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois received the most votes and was ultimately declared the winner of the Iowa Democratic Caucus of 2008, making him the first African American to win the caucus and the first African American to win a primary state since Jesse Jackson in 1988. Former U.S. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina came in second place and then-U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York finished third, though Clinton received more delegates than Edwards. Campaigning had begun as early as two years before the event.
The 2004 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 2, 2004, as part of the 2004 United States presidential election which took place throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 4, 2008, as part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary on January 8, 2008 was the first primary in the United States in 2008. Its purpose was to determine the number of delegates from New Hampshire that would represent a certain candidate at the National Convention. In a primary, members of a political party—in this case, the Democratic Party—will select the candidates to a subsequent election. Since 1920, New Hampshire has always hosted the first primaries in the entire nation. The Democratic Party's primary occurred on the same day as the Republican primary.
The 2004 presidential campaign of John Edwards, U.S. Senator from North Carolina, began on September 16, 2003.
The 2004 presidential campaign of Howard Dean, 79th Governor of Vermont, began when he formed an exploratory committee to evaluate a presidential election campaign on May 31, 2002. Dean then formally announced his intention to compete in the 2004 Democratic primaries to seek the Democratic Party's nomination for President on June 23, 2003. Dean dropped out of the race in February 2004 after a poor showing in the Wisconsin primary.
The 2004 presidential campaign of Dennis Kucinich, House Representative of Ohio and former mayor of Cleveland, began in February 2003, with a formal announcement made in June. Ralph Nader praised Dennis Kucinich as "a genuine progressive", and most Greens were friendly to Kucinich's campaign, some going so far as to indicate that they would not have run against him had he won the Democratic nomination. However, Kucinich was unable to carry any states in the 2004 Democratic Primaries, and John Kerry eventually won the Democratic nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
The District of Columbia held a primary on January 13, 2004 and caucuses on February 14, 2004 during the 2004 Democratic presidential primary season. Delegates were only allocated in the February 14 caucuses.
The 2004 Oklahoma Democratic presidential primary, part of the process of selecting that party's nominee for President of the United States, took place on February 3, one of the seven nominating contests of 2004's "Mini-Tuesday". The primary election chose 40 pledged delegates to represent Oklahoma at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The remainder of Oklahoma's 47 delegates consisted of unpledged superdelegates not bound by the results of the primary. The election was a closed primary, meaning that only registered Democrats could vote in this election. Wesley Clark won the primary by a razor-thin margin over John Edwards.
The 2004 California Democratic presidential primary was held on March 2, 2004, the same day as the Republican primary. Senator John Kerry overwhelmingly won the primary over rivals Senator John Edwards, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, and Reverend Al Sharpton. The primary was open to both registered Democrats and unaffiliated voters. 440 delegates were at stake, with 370 tied to the March primary.
Electoral history of John Edwards, United States Senator from North Carolina (1999-2005), 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee and candidate for Democratic Presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008
Electoral history of Dennis Kucinich, United States Representative from Ohio's 10th district (1997–2013), 53rd Mayor of Cleveland (1977–1979) and a candidate for Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008
Howard Dean was a Governor of Vermont, candidate for President of the United States, and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
The 2008 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 4, 2008, as part of the 2008 United States presidential election throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Since 1983, the Democratic Party of the United States holds a few debates between candidates for the Democratic nomination in presidential elections during the primary election season. Unlike debates between party-nominated candidates, which have been organized by the bi-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates since 1988, debates between candidates for party nomination are organized by mass media outlets.
Debates and forums took place between candidates in the campaign for the Democratic Party's nomination for the president of the United States in the 2004 presidential election. The Democratic National Committee sanctioned 6 debates out of 16 total.
