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2004 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions
 
Copyright www.flags.net/UNST.htm Democratic Convention
Presidential Nominating Process
Automatic selection of unpledged delegates: Monday 1 March 2004
44th Democratic National Convention: Monday 26 July - Thursday 29 July 2004
Democrats
CandidatePopular
Vote
Delegate Votes
Hard TotalFloor Vote
Kerry, John F.10,045,891   60.8%2,701.   62.5%4,253.   98.4%
Edwards, John3,207,048   19.4%549.   12.7% 
Dean, Howard937,015    5.7%103.5   2.4% 
Kucinich, Dennis J.643,067    3.9%63.5   1.5%43.    1.0%
(others)591,524    3.6%  
Clark, Wesley K.572,207    3.5%68.    1.6% 
Sharpton, Alfred C. "Al"383,683    2.3%20.    0.5% 
Uncommitted155,388    0.9%817.   18.9% 
(not voting)  26.    0.6%
Total16,535,823  100.0%4,322.  100.0%4,322.  100.0%

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44th Quadrennial DEMOCRATIC PARTY NATIONAL CONVENTION
Monday 26 July thru Thursday 29 July 2004
FleetCenter-- Boston, Massachusetts

Official Convention website



Democratic National Convention Preview Commentary:
IN THIS CORNER, THE CHALLENGER...
Democrats seek to clearly define both their candidate and themselves

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson, TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Monday 26 July 2004

Democratic Presidential Candidate Governor Howard Dean released his delegates today and encouraged them to vote for Senator John Kerry and Senator John Edwards for President and Vice President on the first ballot. Governor Dean has 103.5 delegate votes distributed as follows-- Michigan: 24, Washington: 24, Wisconsin: 14, New Hampshire: 9, Vermont: 9, Maine: 7, New Mexico: 4, Arizona: 3, District of Columbia: 3, Democrats Abroad: 2.5, Iowa: 2, Kansas: 1, and Pennsylvania: 1.



Democratic National Convention Day 1 Commentary:
THE BATTLE IS JOINED
As they open their Convention, Democrats take their first swings
at President Bush while yet extolling Senator Kerry's virtues

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson, TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Tuesday 27 July 2004



Democratic National Convention Day 2 Commentary:
CONTINUING TO DEFINE WHAT IS A 2004 DEMOCRAT
Party elders and unsuccessful presidential contenders
are featured on the Convention's second day

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson, TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Wednesday 28 July 2004



Democratic National Convention Day 3 Commentary:
ANSWERING ROLL CALL
Kerry formally is given his Prize
while his running mate speaks

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson, TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Thursday 29 July 2004

Roll Call Vote - 28 July 2004
JurisdictionVotesKerryKucinich(not voting)
Alabama62yields to
Massachusetts121121  
Alaska18yields to
North Carolina10710241
American Samoa66  
Arizona6464  
Arkansas4747  
California441441  
Colorado635013 
Connecticut6262  
Delaware2323  
Democrats Abroad99  
District of Columbia13939  
Florida201201  
Georgia10198 3
Guam55  
Hawaii291784
Idaho2323  
Illinois186186  
Indiana8181  
Iowa5757  
Kansas4141  
Kentucky5757  
Louisiana7271 1
Maine352861
Maryland9999  
Michigan155155  
Minnesota86yields to
Ohio159159  
Ohio puts John Kerry "over the top" with 2283 votes.
Mississippi14140 1
Missouri8888  
Montana2121  
Nebraska3131  
Nevada3232  
New Hampshire2726 1
New Jersey128116 12
New Mexico3737  
New York284284  
North Dakota2222  
Oklahoma4747  
Oregon59563 
Pennsylvania178178  
Puerto Rico5756 1
Rhode Island3232  
South Carolina15555  
South Dakota2222  
Tennessee8585  
Texas232232  
Utah22928 1
Vermont2222  
Virgin Islands66  
Virginia9898  
Washington95887 
West Virginia13939  
Wisconsin8787  
Wyoming1919  
Alabama6262  
Alaska18171 
Minnesota86851 
  4,322 4,253 43 26
JurisdictionVotesKerryKucinich(not voting)

 
Notes

1. The Chair did not announce the total number of delegate votes allocated to the District of Columbia, Mississippi, South Carolina, or West Virginia.

2. After the Chair announced 29 delegate votes for Utah, the Utah delegation announced that they cast 28 votes for Kerry. At this point, the Chair announced 29 votes for Kerry. The final vote as cast by the delegations is 4,253 for Kerry and 43 for Kucinich. The final vote as announced by the chair is 4,254 for Kerry and 43 for Kucinich.

The final adjustments to the Democratic delegate count are based on the numbers announced from the chair during the Presidential roll call vote: Puerto Rico: -1 vote for a total of 57 delegate votes, Virginia: +1 vote for a total of 98 delegate votes. At the conclusion of the roll call there were 4,322 delegate votes with 2,162 (a majority) needed to nominate.



Democratic National Convention Day 4 (final day) Commentary:
THE SKIPPER TAKES COMMAND
John Kerry claims his Party

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson, TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Friday 30 July 2004



Democratic National Convention Wrap Up Commentary:
ORDER OF BATTLE Did the Kerry/Edwards campaign do what it had to do at the Convention?
by Richard E. Berg-Andersson, TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Saturday 30 July 2004


CNN.com's Unpledged delegate scorecard from a survey conducted through 11 March 2004: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/primaries/pages/scorecard/unpledged.html. Kerry- 381, Dean- 53, Edwards- 23, Sharpton- 5, Kucinich- 2, not reporting- 338.


Reference: Democrat Delegate Allocation

   

Monday 1 March 2004 - Automatic Assignment of 802 Unpledged Delegates.

The unpledged party leader and elected official delegates are assigned automatically by virtue of respective public or Party office as provided in Rule 8.A. of the 2004 Delegate Selection Rules.

 

Monday 26 July - Thursday 29 July 2004: 44th Democratic National Convention, Boston Massachusetts

The 44th DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION will have a total of 4,322 delegate votes, with 2,162 (a majority) necessary in order for a Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidate to be nominated.

"The rules for the 2004 Democratic National Convention call for the following formula to be used in determining the allocation of delegate votes to each state and jurisdiction sending a delegation to the Convention:

Each state plus the District of Columbia is to be assigned a number of Base delegate votes based on an "Allocation Factor" multiplied by 3,000 (the optimum minimum size of a Democratic National Convention as determined by the Democratic National Committee): a state's (or D.C.'s) "Allocation Factor" being a decimal fraction arrived at through a calculation involving the following factors-

  1. the state's (or D.C.'s) popular vote for the Democratic candidate for President in the three Presidential Elections just previous to the Convention (in this case: 1992, 1996 and 2000). This is the "State's Democratic Vote" [SDV].
  2. the total popular vote for the Democratic candidate for President in the three Presidential Elections just previous to the Convention (again, in this case: 1992, 1996 and 2000). This is the "Total Democratic Vote" [TDV].
  3. the state's Electoral Vote [SEV] and
  4. the total Electoral Vote [TEV] (538)

The formula for determining a given state's (or D.C.'s) "Allocation Factor" [AF] is:

AF = ½ × ( ( SDV ÷ TDV ) + ( SEV ÷ 538 ) )

The number of Base delegate votes assigned to a state is AF × 3000. Of these Base delegate votes, 75% are assigned to be district delegate votes and the remaining 25% are to be at-large delegate votes. In addition to these Base delegate votes, the state (and D.C.) are awarded a number of Pledged "Party Leaders and Elected Officials" [PLEOs] equal to 15% of the number of Base delegate votes as determined by the "Allocation Factor" × 3000 formula described above. There are also delegate votes from U.S. dependencies which do not cast Electoral Votes for President in a General Election. PUERTO RICO is considered, for purposes of the Convention, to have a Base delegate vote of 44; the special case of the other dependencies sending delegations to the Democratic National Convention will be considered below. These delegate votes described so far (making up a number equal to 115% of the total Base delegate votes as determined by the "Allocation Factor" × 3000) are pledged, prior to the first meeting of the Convention, to the support of a presidential contender who earns the support of such delegate votes by virtue of his performance as measured by the votes cast by Democratic voters in primaries and caucuses and/or by Democratic delegates to state and/or sub-state conventions held in each state prior to the Convention.

The states (and D.C.) are also assigned a number of "Unpledged" delegates:

  1. "Unpledged PLEOs" consisting of the following:
    1. Democratic National Committee members.
    2. Democratic Members of Congress (U.S. Senators and Representatives, except those who are to be Pledged PLEOs).
    3. Democratic Governors, except those who are already members of the Democratic National Committee and, therefore, are delegates re: a.) above.
    4. Distinguished Party Leaders (current and former U.S. Presidents and Vice-Presidents, former Democratic Leaders of the U.S. Senate and U.S, House- including former Democratic Speakers of the House and former chairmen of the Democratic National Committee. and

  2. Unpledged "add-on"s (chosen based on the vote of the members of the Democratic National Committee).
    1. These "Unpledged" delegates go to the Convention officially "Unpledged" (that is, not committed- ahead of time- to vote for any particular presidential contender), though it is well known that many- if not most- of these may very well be privately supporting a presidential contender. The number of these "Unpledged" delegates to the Democratic National Convention is subject to change up to the first meeting of the Convention due to deaths, resignations from office (for those PLEOs who hold an elective office) or accession- by a Democrat- to an elective office through an intervening election or special election. In addition, any Unpledged PLEO who shall subsequently become a Pledged PLEO may further alter the number of Unpledged National Convention delegates within a given delegation."

The breakdown of the delegate votes is as follows:

  • 3,062 Base delegate votes (2,279 district delegate votes and 783 at-large delegate votes)
  • 458 Pledged PLEOs (meaning a total of 3,520 delegate votes to be determined by either a primary or a caucus/convention system in each state or other jurisdiction)
  • 802 Unpledged delegate votes (720 Unpledged PLEOs and 82 Unpledged "add-on"s)
  • TOTAL: 4,322 delegate votes.

There will actually be more delegates on the floor of the Democratic National Convention than there are delegate votes [which is why I use the term "delegate votes" in the first place]. Some states will have more delegate seats than actual delegate votes at that Convention [as a result of which, some delegates from some states will have to cast fractional votes during roll calls on the Convention floor]. There will be 4322 delegate votes at the 44th Democratic National Convention, but there will be 4353 actual delegates on the floor of the Convention (in other words, 31 more delegates than votes)... here's why:

  • AMERICAN SAMOA, with 6 delegate votes, will have 12 delegates.
    • 6 at-large pledged delegates each cast ½ (or .5) vote for a total of 3 votes;
    • 2 unpledged delegates (Governor and Democratic Member of Congress) each cast 1 vote for a total of 2 votes;
    • 4 unpledged Democratic National Committee members each cast ¼ (or .25) vote for a total of 1 vote.
  • GUAM, with 5 delegate votes, will have 11 delegates
    • 6 at-large pledged delegates each cast ½ (or .5) vote for a total of 3 votes;
    • 1 unpledged delegate (Democratic Member of Congress [the current Governor of Guam is not a Democrat]) casts 1 vote;
    • 4 unpledged Democratic National Committee members each cast ¼ (or .25) vote for a total of 1 vote.
  • VIRGIN ISLANDS, with 6 delegate votes, will have 12 delegates
    • 6 at-large pledged delegates each cast ½ (or .5) vote for a total of 3 votes;
    • 2 unpledged delegates (Governor and Democratic Member of Congress) each cast 1 vote for a total of 2 votes;
    • 4 unpledged Democratic National Committee members each cast ¼ (or .25) vote for a total of 1 vote.
  • DEMOCRATS ABROAD, with 9 delegate votes, will have 22 delegates. The makeup of the DEMOCRATS ABROAD delegation will be:
    • 9 regional delegates [a .5 vote each]= 4.5 regional delegate votes;
    • 3 at-large delegates [a .5 vote each]= 1.5 at-large delegate votes;
    • 2 Pledged PLEO delegates [a .5 vote each]= 1 Pledged PLEO delegate vote;
    • 8 Unpledged PLEO delegates [a .25 vote each]= 2 Unpledged PLEO delegate votes.

"In a relative handful of cases, a Member of Congress or a Governor is also a member of the Democratic National Committee (in some of these cases, such as that of the Democrats' Congressional Leaders- House Minority Leader Gephardt and Senate Minority Leader Daschle- Members of Congress are DNC members ex-officio; in other cases, however, they represent various associated committees or organizations affiliated with the DNC: for example, U.S. Senators [other than Daschle] sit on the DNC as representatives of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee- likewise, Congressmen [other than Gephardt] and Governors sit on the DNC as representatives of, respectively, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governors' Association); the Democratic Party lists these Unpledged PLEOs who are DNC members as well as holders of elective office solely as DNC members (in other words, as far as the Party is concerned, these people are "Party Leaders" more than "Elected Officials"). However, it is the considered opinion of "The Green Papers" that the average user of this web site is going to think of these few Unpledged PLEOs who are in the unique position of being both PLs AND EOs more in terms of their elected office than their DNC membership: as a result, "The Green Papers" has "converted" DNC members who happen also to be Governors, Senators and Representatives to their political office from their DNC membership. Therefore, the breakdown in each state or other jurisdiction of Unpledged PLEOs as posted on "The Green Papers" may differ somewhat from that put out by the Democratic Party itself: where this is the case, it is so indicated on the appropriate DEMOCRAT page for the affected state or other jurisdiction."


Replacing Unpledged Delegates

Unpledged delegates shall not be entitled to a replacement, nor shall the state be entitled to a replacement, except under the following conditions:

  1. Members of Congress and Democratic Governors shall not be entitled to name a replacement. In the event of changes or vacancies in the state's Congressional Delegation, following the official confirmation and prior to the commencement of the national convention, the DNC Secretary shall recognize only such changes as have been officially recognized by he Democratic Caucus of the U. S. House of Representatives or the Democratic Conference of the U. S. Senate. In the event of a change or vacancy in he state's office of Governor, the DNC shall recognize only such changes as have been officially recognized by he Democratic Governors' Association.
  2. Members of the DNC and unpledged Add-on delegates shall not be entitled to a replacement, nor shall the state be entitled to a replacement, except in the case of death of such delegates. In the case where the state's DNC membership changes following the DNC Secretary's official confirmation, but prior to the commencement of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, acknowledgment by the Secretary of the new DNC member certification shall constitute verification of the corresponding change of unpledged delegates.
  3. Distinguished Party Leader delegates allocated to the state pursuant to Rule 8.A.(5) shall not be entitled to name a replacement, nor shall the state be entitled to name a replacement.
  4. In no case may an alternate cast a vote for an unpledged delegate.

Terminology:

  • PLEOs = Party Leaders and Elected Officials.
  • Unpledged PLEOs + add-ons = Superdelegates.
  • District + at-large delegates = Base delegates.
  • Base delegates + Pledged PLEOs are the only delegates chosen through a Democratic presidential Primary or Caucus/Convention procedure and, thus, allocated to presidential contenders.
  • All Unpledged delegates (Unpledged PLEOs + add-ons) are automatically uncommitted and are held aside rather than allocated to presidential contenders through a Primary or Caucus/Convention.


1 Democratic Party's "First Determining Step" of the delegate selection process.

 


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