2000 Democratic Party presidential primaries

Primary race overview

The apparent front runner, incumbent Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee, only faced one major candidate in the primaries, former U.S. senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey. Both men campaigned to succeed term-limited incumbent Bill Clinton. During the course of the five-month primary season, Gore won every primary contest over his opponent, and easily won the party's nomination for the 2000 election.

Serious early speculation surrounded Bill Bradley, a former U.S. senator and NBA player, who had long been considered a potential Democratic contender for the presidency. In December 1998, Bradley formed a presidential exploratory committee and began organizing a campaign. Gore, however, had been considered the favorite for the Democratic nomination as early as 1997, with the commencement of President Clinton's second term. Though numerous candidates for the Democratic nomination tested the waters, including Senator John Kerry, Governor Howard Dean, Representative Richard Gephardt, and Reverend Jesse Jackson, only Gore and Bradley ultimately entered the contest.

Bradley campaigned as the liberal alternative to Gore, taking positions to the left of him on issues like universal health care, gun control, and campaign finance reform. On the issue of taxes, Bradley trumpeted his sponsorship of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which had significantly cut tax rates while abolishing dozens of loopholes. He voiced his belief that the best possible tax code would be one with low rates and no loopholes, but he refused to rule out the idea of raising taxes to pay for his health care program.

On public education, Bradley pushed for increased federal funding for schools under Title I, as well as the expansion of the Head Start program. He further promised to bring 60,000 new teachers into the education system annually by offering college scholarships to anyone who agreed to become a teacher after graduating. Bradley also made child poverty a significant issue in his campaign. Having voted against the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, better known as the "Welfare Reform Act," which, he said, would result in even higher poverty levels, he promised to repeal it as president. He also promised to address the minimum wage, expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, allow single parents on welfare to keep their child support payments, make the Dependent Care Tax Credit refundable, build support homes for pregnant teenagers, enroll 400,000 more children in Head Start, and increase the availability of food stamps.

Although both Gore and Bradley showed comparable success in terms of fund-raising, Bradley lagged behind Gore in many polls from the start and never gained a competitive position. Despite the late endorsement of the Des Moines Register, Bradley went on to be defeated in the Iowa Caucus; Gore garnered 62.9% of the votes, while Bradley received only 36.6%. Gore won the primary competition in New Hampshire as well, though by a significantly smaller margin, receiving 49.7% to Bradley's 46.6%. On Super Tuesday, Bradley attracted some support in various primaries, especially in northeastern states, but he failed to gain the majority of delegates in any of these competitions. He withdrew from the race on March 9.

Since the advent of the modern presidential primary system began in 1972, Gore remains the only non-incumbent (Republican or Democrat) to sweep all the nominating contests held in a given year.

Candidates

Nominee

Withdrew during primaries or convention

Declined

File:Ann Richards, Governor of Texas 02.jpg|Ann Richards, former Governor of Texas File:John Kerry portrait of Climate Envoy (cropped) 1.jpg|John Kerry, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts File:Paul Wellstone (cropped).jpg|Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator from Minnesota File:Senator Bob Kerrey.jpg|Bob Kerrey, U.S. Senator from Nebraska File:Jay Rockefeller portrait (1).jpg|Jay Rockefeller, U.S. Senator from West Virginia File:Dick Gephardt portrait (full).png|Dick Gephardt, House Minority Leader File:Jesse Jackson, half-length portrait of Jackson seated at a table, July 1, 1983 edit.jpg|Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Activist, 1984 and 1988 Presidential Candidate File:Warren Beatty.jpg|Warren Beatty, Actor File:Ted Turner (48591893656).jpg|Ted Turner, Media Mogul

Polling

Primaries and caucus calendar

Results

Statewide

Nationwide

Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman was nominated for vice president by voice vote. Lieberman became the first Jewish American ever to be chosen for this position by a major party. Other potential running-mates included:

• Tom Harkin, U.S. senator from Iowa
• Evan Bayh, U.S. senator from Indiana
• Barbara Boxer, U.S. senator from California
• John Edwards, U.S. senator from North Carolina
• Dianne Feinstein, U.S. senator from California
• Barbara Mikulski, U.S. senator from Maryland
• Dick Gephardt, U.S. House Minority Leader from Missouri
• Bob Graham, U.S. senator from Florida
• Jim Hunt, Governor of North Carolina
• John Kerry, U.S. senator from Massachusetts
• Bob Kerrey, U.S. senator and former Governor from Nebraska
• Zell Miller, U.S. senator from Georgia
• George Mitchell, former Senate Majority Leader from Maine
• Sam Nunn, former U.S. senator from Georgia
• Jeanne Shaheen, Governor of New Hampshire

Maps

File:2000 Democratic presidential primary election results map by state (vote share).svg|Results in popular vote margin, by state File:Democratic presidential primaries results by county, 2000.svg|Results of popular vote, by county File:Democratic presidential primaries results by county margin, 2000.svg|Results in popular vote margin, by county

References

References

1. Preston, Jennifer. (December 5, 1998). "Bradley Takes First Step Toward Presidential Race". The New York Times.
2. APPLE, R. W. Jr.. (January 19, 1997). "Gore Is Crossing Starting Line for Year 2000". The New York Times.
3. "Politics1 - Guide to the Inactive 2004 Democratic Presidential Prospects".
4. "Jesse Jackson Won't Run for President".
5. Dao, James. (September 22, 1999). "Moynihan to Endorse Bradley, Favoring Friend Over the Vice President". The New York Times.
6. Steinberg, Jacques. (February 29, 2000). "THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: THE EDUCATION ISSUE; The Candidates' Homework on Schools". The New York Times.
7. "Bill Bradley for President 2000 Campaign Brochure".
8. "Des Moines Register endorses Bradley". CNN.
9. "CNN.com International". CNN.
10. (March 9, 2000). "THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: THE QUEST; His Early Promise Vanished, Bradley Plans to Quit Today". The New York Times.
11. (27 February 1999). "John Kerry, Citing Time and Money, Won't Run for President". [[The New York Times]].
12. (10 January 1999). "Wellstone Says He Won't Seek Presidency in 2000 After All". [[The New York Times]].
13. "Start Your Engines For Campaign 2000". CNN.
14. Gray, Jerry. (March 29, 1997). "Gephardt Takes to the Road, and Speculation on 2000 Follows". The New York Times.
15. (August 12, 1999). "Warren Beatty For President?". CBS News.
16. Ellison, Michael. (January 3, 2000). "F-words persuade Warren Beatty not to run". The Guardian.
17. (November 16, 1998). "Ted Turner for President?". Sun Sentinel.
18. "Gore Leads Bradley Nationally Among Democrats, Except in Northeast".
19. (1999-08-04). "CBS Polls: Listening to voters".
20. (February 19, 2001). "The Green Papers – Presidential Primaries 2000 – Democratic Pledged and Unpledged Delegate Summary".
21. "2000 Presidential Democratic Primary Election Results".