2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries

The U.S. Democratic Party Presidential Primary, 2004 will decide which pair of candidates represent the Democrats in the 2004 Presidential election. There is very little chance of either a serious challenge to incumbent candidate George W. Bush in the Republican primary or a third party candidate winning a signficant portion of the vote in the general election; thus,the Democratic primary will receive the most media coverage of any 2004 Presidential primary.

Candidates

• Filed
  • John Kerry, Senator from Massachusetts
  • Dennis Kucinich, Representative from Ohio
  • Al Sharpton, Reverend from New York
• Announced
  • Wesley Clark, retired General and former NATO commander
  • Howard Dean, former Governor from Vermont
  • John Edwards, Senator from North Carolina
  • Lyndon LaRouche, editor, convicted felon !
  • Joseph Lieberman, Senator from Connecticut
• Dropped out
  • Bob Graham, Senator from Florida
  • Carol Moseley Braun, former Senator from Illinois
  • Richard Gephardt, former U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader, Representative from Missouri
• Declined
  • Al Gore, Vice President of the United States (1993-2001), Democratic Presidential candidate in the U.S. presidential election, 2000
  • Hillary Clinton, wife of former president Bill Clinton, Senator from New York.

Important Primary Events

• Senator John Kerry, in an extremely surprising event, wins the Iowa caucuses with approximately 35% of the votes, with John Edwards close behind. The former frontrunner, Vermont Governor Howard Dean, received a meager 18% of the vote.

Issues

Abortion

Given that feminists are one of the Democratic party's core constituencies, it is no surprise that nearly all the Democratic presidential candidates are strongly pro-abortion rights. The only exception is Dennis Kucinich, who though now an abortion rights supporter [1] , had had an anti-abortion rights (or "pro-life") voting record during his career as a Congressman.

Timeline

See the timeline for the 2004 election

External links and references

• The New Republic Online: The TNR Primary
• The Green Papers Online: 2004 Presidential Primaries Details

News articles

• No Democratic candidate gets 50 percent in online primary - Associated Press, June 27, 2003
• Debate Bares Democrats' Great Divide - Washington Post, May 5, 2003
• Democrats discuss Iraq early in debate - Associated Press, May 4, 2003