Political activist Lyndon LaRouche of Virginia is also running as a nominal Democrat, although the Democratic party did not award LaRouche convention delegates or recognize his candidacy.
¹: Sharpton and Kucinich dropped out of the race on these dates, but did not formally withdraw or stop accepting delegates until after the convention. Kucinich received somewhat less than 1 percent of the delegates' votes, the only candidate but Kerry to be so recognized.
There were 4,353 total delegates to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, of which 802 were "superdelegates": party leaders, even including some of the candidates, who were not bound by any state's primary or caucus votes and could change their support at any time. A candidate needed 2,162 delegates to become the nominee. Except for the Northern Mariana Islands and Midway Atoll, all states, territories, and other inhabited areas of the United States offered delegates to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
John Kerry won 4,255 votes at the Convention, including those won by all of his former rivals except Dennis Kucinich, who received 37 votes.
¹ Total delegate count includes "superdelegates," delegates not assigned directly from primary or caucus results. State delegate counts include only those delegates assigned as a result of the state primary or caucus.
² January 14 was a non-binding primary (no delegates apportioned). Ten of the District of Columbia's pledged delegates were awarded at ward-level caucuses on February 14; the other six were awarded based on the February 14 results in a convention on March 6.
³ Only local delegates were selected at the Iowa and Idaho caucuses. National delegates were selected later.
4 These figures are based on correctly-rounded percentages based on complete counts directly from the state parties and from the Washington Post. These figures differ slightly from those reported in most major media outlets (including some linked at the bottom of the page), where percentages have been slightly mis-stated for some candidates in some elections (either by applying inconsistent rounding or by inconsistently excluding minor candidates or candidates who had dropped out).
March, 2003 - The Dean for America campaign signed deal with Meetup.com to integrate Meetup functionality directly into the main page of the campaign website.
April 17, 2003 - Democratic fundraising totals for the first quarter of 2003 are reported. John Edwards raises $7.4 million, John Kerry raises $7.0 million, Dick Gephardt raises $3.5 million, Joe Lieberman raises $3.0 million, Howard Dean raises $2.6 million, Bob Graham raises $1.1 million, and Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley Braun raise less than $1 million each.
June 17, 2003 - Dean airs the first television advertising of the 2004 campaign. The two week ad campaign will cost more than $300,000.
June 23, 2003 - Dean officially became the first Democratic public figure to officially declare himself a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2004 presidential election when he filed with the Federal Election Commission. Dean announced his candidacy in an address to thousands of people at the Church Street Marketplace in downtownBurlington, Vermont. In his speech, Dean used the phrase, "Take our country back," which would become one of the themes of his campaign.1
June 24, 2003 - Liberal advocacy website MoveOn holds the first ever online Democratic "primary," which lasts just over 48 hours. It is an unofficial and non-binding affair, but with important symbolic and financial value. Of 317,647 votes, Dean receives 44%, Dennis Kucinich 24%, and John Kerry 16%. Had any candidate received 50% of the vote, the candidate would have received MoveOn's endorsement and financial support. Instead, MoveOn supports all the candidates. [1]
July 3, 2003 - Democratic fundraising numbers for the second quarter of 2003 are reported and announced. Howard Dean surprises many raising $7.5 million, John Kerry raises $6 million, while John Edwards and Joseph Lieberman raise roughly $5 million each.
September 17, 2003 - Retired General Wesley Clark announces his candidacy. Pundits compare his grassroots organization to that of Dean, though detractors claim that Clark's campaign only has the outward appearance of grassroots support.
November 1, 2003 - In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Howard Dean is quoted as saying "I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks. We can't beat George Bush unless we appeal to a broad cross-section of Democrats." [2] This comment stirs strong controversy among Democratic contenders.
November 8, 2003 - Dean announces intention to forgo federal campaign financing (and hence primary spending limit), following online vote of supporters
January 6, 2004 - Dean receives endorsement from Bill Bradley, former US senator and Gore's rival for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 2000.
January 13, 2004 - The non-binding Washington, DC Democratic primary is held with four major candidates on the ballot. Howard Dean received 43% of the vote, while Al Sharpton had 34%. Carol Moseley Braun was in third place with 12% followed by Dennis Kucinich who had eight percent. The primary, however, was binding upon the Green Party, making it the Greens' first primary of the season. David Cobb received 37 percent of the vote, Sheila Bilyeu received 19 percent, 13 percent preferred the party not run a candidate, and the remaining 31 percent was distributed among write-in candidates.
January 15, 2004 - Carol Moseley Braun drops out of the race and announces her support for Dean, saying that "Governor Dean is the candidate best-equipped to bring Americans together, to renew our country, and restore our privacy, our liberty and our economic security."
January 18, 2004 - Dean visits Plains, Georgia to meet with former President Jimmy Carter. Carter makes a statement in a press conference following a church service the two men attended: "I have made an announcement in advance that I'm not going to endorse any particular candidate. But I have been particularly grateful at the courageous and outspoken posture and position that Governor Dean has taken from the very beginning."[4]
January 22, 2004 - Dean gives an interview to Diane Sawyer in an attempt to repair his image following the disappointing loss in Iowa, and to control the damage caused by his post-caucus speech, which was widely criticized and ridiculed as the "I have a scream" speech. [5] Sawyer and many others in the national broadcast news media later expressed some regret about overplaying the story after it becomes clear that that audio engineering played a role in his speech sounding so bad. [6]
January 28, 2004 - Dean appoints Roy Neel as CEO of his campaign; campaign manager Joe Trippi leaves after being offered a lesser position on the campaign and refusing it
February 7, 2004 - John Kerry wins the Michigan and Washington caucuses. This earns him over 130 delegates. Dean places second in both caucuses, gaining just over 50 delegates.
February 10, 2004 - John Kerry wins the Tennessee and Virginia primaries with 41% and 52% of the vote respectively. Dean and most of the other candidates perform very poorly.
February 14, 2004 - John Kerry wins caucuses in Washington, D.C. with 47% and Nevada with 63% of the vote. Dean attracts nearly twice as many voters in each race as John Edwards taking second place in Nevada (17% vs 10%) and third in Washington, D.C. (18% vs 10%) close behind Al Sharpton with 20%. 6,000 Democrats show up at the caucus in Las Vegas, Nevada, far more than the expected 1,000, forcing the caucus to be held outside on the high school's football field.
February 17, 2004 - John Kerry wins the Wisconsin primary with 40% of the vote. John Edwards places second with 34% and Dean a distant third with 18%. Other candidates receive 3% or less.
March 25, 2004 - Dean endorses John Kerry, citing Kerry's experience and vision, and emphasizing the importance of uniting Democratic voices behind Kerry to defeat President George W. Bush.
