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This is article is about the presidential campaign of John Kerry. For John Kerry's biography and political views, see the main Kerry article; studies of his campaign and events central to the election will be covered here.

According to delegate counts and major polls as of March 2004, United States Senator John Kerry, a Democrat, from Massachusetts is the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in the United States presidential election. His last remaining major opponent, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, withdrew his candidacy after his Super Tuesday losses.) Assuming he wins the nomination, he is set to face Republican incumbent President George W. Bush in November 2004.

Primary elections

In 2003, Kerry declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the 2004 Presidential Election. Initially the front-runner, he lost the lead to upstart former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. However, as the actual primary season grew closer, Kerry regained his momentum while Dean's support faltered in the wake of his devastating third-place finish in the Iowa caucus.

John Kerry won the Iowa caucus over Senator John Edwards of North Carolina on January 19,2004 by a narrow margin, and then won the primary in New Hampshire by a wide margin on January 27.

On February 3, five states held primaries and two held caucuses. Kerry won both caucuses and three of the primaries, with a margin of victory of no less than 16% in any of those five states. Kerry came in second to Edwards by 15% in Edward's native South Carolina. Kerry came in third in Oklahoma with 27% while Edwards and General Wesley Clark each received 30% of the votes.

On February 7, Kerry continued his winning streak with victories in caucuses in Michigan (52% of the vote, ahead of Dean with 17%) and Washington (48% ahead of Dean with 30%). On February 8 Kerry won the Maine caucuses with about half of the vote, leading Howard Dean who had about a quarter of the vote.

On February 10, Kerry also won primaries in Virginia (by a 25% margin over Edwards) and Tennessee (by a 15% margin over Edwards), leaving him with 12 wins out of 14 state primary or caucus contests. Clark exited the race after the first two Southern primaries (following Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Congressman Dick Gephardt of Missouri out the door), which some observers thought might strengthen the hand of the race's other Southern son, John Edwards. Kerry made his victory speech that evening at George Mason University.

On February 14, Kerry won both the Nevada and District of Columbia caucuses—garnering an overwhelming 63% of the vote in Nevada, with nearest competitor Dean pulling in less than a third of that (17%)—and Edwards garnering 10%. In D.C., Kerry earned 47%, more than doubling his nearest competitor, the Reverend Al Sharpton of New York, who had 20%.

On February 17, Kerry narrowly won the Wisconsin primary, with 39% of the vote, ahead of Edwards with 35%. Given Kerry's strength in earlier primaries and the apparent inevitability of his nomination, this was considered a poorer-than-expected result. The Wisconsin vote left Kerry with 632 of the delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.

On February 24, Kerry won the Utah primary and the caucuses in Idaho and Hawaii. Kerry defeated Edwards by a margin of 55% to 30% in Utah and 54% to 22% in Idaho. Kerry defeated Congressman Dennis Kucinich by a 46% to 30% margin in Hawaii.

On March 2, "Super Tuesday," Kerry won primaries in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island and caucuses in Minnesota, effectively clinching the Democratic Presidential nomination. He lost Vermont to native son Dean. With just one win (his native South Carolina), Kerry's remaining serious competitor, Edwards, leaked his intentions to leave the race.

Kerry's delegate total now stands at 1557; he has won a total of 27 of 30 nominating contests.

Endorsements

John Kerry's candidacy has been endorsed by former Democratic primary candidates Congressman Dick Gephardt and former four-star General Wesley Clark. He also received the endorsement of the AFL-CIO (the major U.S. labor organization), after Gephardt and Dean (who had each previously won endorsements from individual member unions) dropped out.

Views of Kerry

The official Kerry for President website declares:

"John has a bold, new vision for America. An America safe from foreign threats and greedy special interests. John has the experience and plans to lead America to better jobs, quality health care, energy that is clean, renewable, and independent, and greater opportunities for our children."

The Kansas City Star endorsed Kerry before the Missouri primary and wrote of him:

"Kerry has the right combination of intelligence, experience and thoughtful, progressive views for the job. His military record—he received both a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for acts of bravery in Vietnam—as well as his defense and foreign policy expertise clearly make him the best qualified Democrat to lead the nation in the continuing fight against our adversaries abroad...Kerry has decades of public service that are available for scrutiny and review. It is an excellent record, one that contains abundant evidence of the senator's commitment to the country and its better impulses."

The Chattanooga Times Free Press endorsed Kerry before the Tennessee Democratic primary and editorialized:

"If Mr. Kerry is, by contrast , a 'liberal,' at least his policies make sense and would benefit all Americans. He has supported the sort of responsible domestic policies that boost education, support job creation and improve health care for all. With his personal war experience and deep background in foreign policy, he would exercise sound diplomacy in foreign affairs."

The Washington Post had this editorial comment on Kerry's approaching front-runner status:

"JOHN KERRY has become the favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination without a detailed or clarifying debate on many issues. ... Now, with the nomination seemingly within his reach, the Massachusetts senator must begin to more fully explain where he stands on the major challenges facing the country.

"That task is particularly important for Mr. Kerry because of his fuzziness on issues ranging from Iraq to gay marriage. ... But even a more independent assessment of Mr. Kerry can lead to puzzlement. He says he opposes gay marriage, yet voted against the federal Defense of Marriage act. He voted for the North American Free Trade agreement yet now talks in protectionist terms."

In an appearance in Milwaukee, fellow candidate and political rival Howard Dean stated, "When you act like Senator Kerry does, he appears to be more like George Bush than he does like a Democrat."

Critics of Kerry cite Associated Press reports that Kerry made efforts to keep loopholes for special interests. One loophole allowed American International Group to profit from liability insurance coverage it provided for the "Big Dig" project in Boston. AIG later provided the funds for Kerry's trip to Vermont and donated $30,000 (or more) to a group used to set up Kerry's presidential campaign (Company executives also donated $18,000 to his campaigns). Charles Lewis, head of the Center for Public Integrity, stated that "the idea that Kerry has not helped or benefited from a specific special interest, which he has said, is utterly absurd." Kerry has denied any connection between his assistance to AIG and its contributions to his campaign.

Other politicians, such as Republican opponents and conservative foes, describe Kerry as liberal and out-of-touch with their perception of the mainstream of American society. Commentator Pat Buchanan wrote:

"... a Massachusetts liberal who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, backs civil unions for homosexuals, voted to defend the infanticide known as partial-birth abortion and wants to raise the federal income taxes that George Bush lowered."

Kerry is, unquestionably, on the left end of the American political spectrum, and can be described as a liberal, but perhaps more specifically as a free-market fiscal moderate and social-values libertarian. The Americans for Democratic Action, a prominent liberal organization, rates Kerry's voting record better than that of Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), causing Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie to joke, "Who would have guessed it? Ted Kennedy is the conservative senator from Massachusetts." (Kerry gets a 93 percent from the ADA, Kennedy an 88 percent.)