Arizona primary, 2004

The 2004 Arizona primary took place on February 3 2004 as part of the 2004 United States Democratic presidential primaries. Frontrunner John Kerry won the primary with former general Wesley Clark coming second.

In 2003 the Arizona primary had been moved up from February 24 to February 3 by Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano in order to give the state more influence in the nomination contest.cite web| url = http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2004-01-29-arizona-usat_x.htm | title = Ariz. hosts first primary test out West | accessdate = 2008-03-24 | date = 2004-01-29| publisher = "USA Today"]

Campaign

The candidates began campaigning in Arizona in September 2003 and by the time of the primary had spent 2.5 million dollars on television adverts in the state. Arizona was the first primary in the Western United States and as such was regarded as the first chance to see how the candidates appealed among Hispanic voters.

Howard Dean was the early favourite for the primary but by the time of the primary he had lost ground to both Wesley Clark and John Kerry. Kerry surged strongly in the polls after he had established himself as the strong frontrunner for the nomination in Iowa and New Hampshire. Exit polls showed Kerry did well among the half of voters who made up their minds in the last week before the primary.cite web| url = http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/related/8421 | title = Kerry wins Arizona primary | accessdate = 2008-03-24 | date = 2004-02-03| publisher = "Arizona Daily Star"]

Endorsements

Wesley Clark got the endorsement of former Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona Paul Johnsoncite web| url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ADSB&s_site=azstarnet&f_site=azstarnet&f_sitename=Arizona+Daily+Star%2C+The+%28AZ%29&p_multi=ADSB&p_theme=gannett&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0FFDB53E57F40C97&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM | title = Dean coming to Arizona to get Babbitt's endorsement | accessdate = 2008-03-24 | date = 2003-12-12| publisher = "Arizona Daily Star"] while Kerry got the endorsements of several state officals. Howard Dean received the endorsement of former Governor Bruce Babbitt. However Governor Janet Napolitano avoided endorsing any of the candidates and only endorsed John Kerry after the primary was finished on March 1.cite web| url = http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/related/220090 | title = Napolitano endorsing Obama | accessdate = 2008-03-24 | date = 2008-01-11| publisher = "Arizona Daily Star"]

Joe Lieberman made the most visits of any of the candidates to Arizona and this helped him to get the endorsement of Phoenix newspaper, The Arizona Republic.

Polling

Source: [http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2004/arizona.html Arizona - 2004 Presidential Polls]

Results

John Kerry welcomed the results saying "I am stunned by the results and truly honored and humbled by the confidence that so many voters in Arizona have shown me today". Exit polls showed he did well among older voters, Hispanics and veterans. He defeated his rivals among liberals, moderates and conservatives.

Source: [http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/primaries/pages/dates/02/03/ PRIMARY RESULTS: February 3]

ee also

*Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2004

References