U.S. presidential election, 2004

The next U.S. presidential election is scheduled to occur November 2, 2004. The U.S. house election, 2004[?] is scheduled for the same date, as is a U.S. senate election, 2004[?] (the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are elected simultaneously with the President). The newly elected or newly re-elected President will be inaugurated on January 20, 2005.

Timeline

• May 31, 2002 - Vermont Governor Howard Dean forms a presidential exploratory committee.
• December 1, 2002 - John Kerry, Senator from Massachusetts announces his plans to form an exploratory committee for a possible 2004 Presidential run on NBC's Meet The Press. Kerry anticipates a formal announcement "down the road some months".
• December 16, 2002 - Former Vice President and 2000 Presidential candidate Al Gore announces on the CBS program 60 Minutes that he will not seek election to the Presidency in 2004. Gore had recently wrapped up a nationwide book tour and had been widely expected to run.
• January 2, 2003 - Senator John Edwards of North Carolina announces his intention to run for the Democratic nomination.
• January 4, 2003 - Richard Gephardt, the U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader, announces his intention to run for the Democratic nomination.
• January 5, 2003 - Reverend Al Sharpton of New York announces his bid to run for President.
• January 7, 2003 - Tom Daschle, the United States Senate Minority Leader, announces that he will not run for President in 2004. Daschle had been widely expected to run.
• January 13, 2003 - Senator Joseph Lieberman from Connecticut announces his candidacy.
• January 17, 2003 - Libertarian Gary Nolan, former syndicated talk radio host, files papers to form an exploratory committee for a presidential run.
• January 22, 2003 - A campaign to draft Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs is launched at http://www.jobs4president.org/. The site was announced on Slashdot, overloading the server within ten minutes. Before the owners of the site could bring the site back up, Jobs declines interest in running.
• February 18, 2003 - Carol Moseley Braun, former Senator from Illinois, announces her intention to run for the Democratic nomination.
• February 19, 2003 - Dennis Kucinich, Representative from Ohio, files papers to form an exploratory committee for a presidential run.
• February 27, 2003 - Senator Bob Graham of Florida announced his candidacy.
• March 3, 2003 Senator Christopher Dodd[?] of Connecticut announces that he will not run for the 2004 Democratic party presidential nomination.
• May 3, 2003 - Democrats meet at the University of South Carolina[?] in Columbia, South Carolina in the first formal debate between the nine challengers for the 2004 Democratic party presidential nomination. The candidates disagree on the war against Iraq, health insurance, and even President Bush's tax cuts, but unite in criticizing Bush's handling of the economy.
• May 6, 2003 - Gary Hart, former Senator from Colorado, announces he will not seek the Democratic nomination for President in 2004.
• May 7, 2003 - Vice President Dick Cheney announces he will be President Bush's running mate again in 2004. Cheney's position on the ticket had been the subject of some speculation because he has had four heart attacks, though none as Vice President. Bush had still not formally announced he would seek re-election yet.
• May 16, 2003 - President Bush formally files papers with the Federal Election Commission seeking a second term as President.
• June 17, 2003 - Howard Dean airs the first television advertising of the 2004 campaign. The two week ad campaign will cost more than $300,000.
• June 23, 2003 - After already indicating his intentions, Howard Dean formally announces that he is running for President.
• 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, Howard 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] (http://moveon.org/pac/primary/report)

Important future dates

• January 19, 2004 - Iowa Caucus
• January 27, 2004 - New Hampshire primary
• February 3, 2004 - First date for Democratic primaries and caucuses other than New Hampshire and Iowa
  • South Carolina primary
  • Missouri primary
  • Arizona primary
• February 10, 2004 - Virginia primary
• March 2, 2004 - California and New York primaries
• March 9, 2004 - Florida and Texas primaries
• May 28-May 31, 2004 - Libertarian National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia
• June 24-June 27, 2004 - Green Party of the United States National convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• July 26-July 29, 2004 - Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts
• August 30-September 2, 2004 - Republican National Convention in New York City, New York
• November 2, 2004 - General election.
• January 20, 2005 - Inauguration day.

Click here for a map of all primary dates (http://www.state.ma.us/sec/ele/eleprim/primmap.htm)

Candidates

• Democrats
  • Filed
    • Richard Gephardt, former U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader, Representative from Missouri
    • Bob Graham, Senator from Florida
    • John Kerry, Senator from Massachusetts
    • Dennis Kucinich, Representative from Ohio
    • Carol Moseley Braun, former Senator from Illinois
    • Al Sharpton, Reverend from New York
  • Announced
    • Howard Dean, former Governor from Vermont
    • John Edwards, Senator from North Carolina
    • Joseph Lieberman, Senator from Connecticut
  • Considering
    • Joe Biden, Senator from Delaware
    • Wesley Clark, retired General and former NATO commander

• Republicans
  • Filed
    • George W. Bush, President of the United States
• Libertarians
  • Filed
    • Gary Nolan, Talk radio host
    • Michael Badnarik[?], former State House candidate from Texas
  • Announced
  • Considering
    • James Gray[?], presiding Superior Court Judge, Orange County, California
    • Carla Howell, former candidate for Governor and U.S. Senate from Massachusetts
    • Gary Johnson[?], former Governor of New Mexico
    • Ed Thompson, former Mayor of Tomah, Wisconsin[?]
• Greens
  • Considering
    • Cynthia McKinney[?], former Congresswoman from Georgia
    • Ralph Nader, consumer rights advocate and '96 and '00 nominee
    • David Cobb[?], legal advisor to the party and former candidate for Texas attorney general
    • Jello Biafra, former lead singer of the Dead Kennedys and candidate for the 2000 nomination
    • Paul Glover[?], creator of Ithaca Hours

Withdrew candidacy

• David Hollist[?], from California
• Ken Krawchuk[?], former candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania (withdrew April 2003)

Electoral College changes from 2000

With the completion of the 2000 census, Congressional re-apportionment took place, moving some representative districts from the slowest growing states to the fastest growing. As a result, some states will send a different number of electors to the U.S. Electoral College, since the number of electors allotted to a state is equal to the sum of the number of Senators and Representatives from that state. Since the results were so close in 2000, this could potentially impact the outcome of the 2004 election.

The following table shows the change in electors from the 2000 election. Red (+7) states represent those that Bush won in 2000 and blue (-7) states Gore won.

See also: President of the United States, U.S. presidential election, 2004

External links and references

Election news wires

• Associated Press news wire (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index2&cid=694)
• Washington Post Election 2004 coverage (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics/elections/2004/)

News articles

• No Democratic candidate gets 50 percent in online primary (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/06/27/national1219EDT0608.DTL) - Associated Press, June 27, 2003
• Debate Bares Democrats' Great Divide (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13888-2003May4) - Washington Post, May 5, 2003
• Democrats discuss Iraq early in debate (http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/05/03/dems.debate.ap/) - Associated Press, May 4, 2003