2000 Democratic Party presidential primaries

2000 Democratic Party presidential primaries
4,338 delegates to the Democratic National Convention; 2,170 delegates needed to win;
	; Al Gore
Previous Democratic nominee; Bill Clinton;	Democratic nominee ; Al Gore;

From January 24 to June 6, 2000, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 2000 United States presidential election. Incumbent Vice President Al Gore was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 2000 Democratic National Convention held from August 14 to 17, 2000, in Los Angeles, California, but he went on to lose the Electoral College in the general election against Governor George W. Bush held on November 7 of that year, despite winning the popular vote by 0.5%.

Primary race overview

The apparent front runner, incumbent Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee, only faced one major candidate in the primaries, 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 managed to win every single primary contest over his opponent, and easily won the party's nomination for the 2000 election.

Serious early speculation surrounded Bill Bradley, a U.S. Senator and former 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.^[1] Gore, however, had been considered the favorite for the Democratic nomination as early as 1997, with the commencement of President Clinton's second term.^[2] Though numerous candidates for the Democratic nomination tested the waters, including Senator John Kerry, Governor Howard Dean,^[3] Representative Richard Gephardt, and Reverend Jesse Jackson,^[4] 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.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7] 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,^[5] 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.^[7]

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,^[8] Bradley went on to be defeated in the Iowa Caucus; Gore garnered 62.9% of the votes, while Bradley received only 36.6%.^[9] Gore won the primary competition in New Hampshire as well, though by a significantly smaller margin, receiving 49.7% to Bradley's 46.6%. After a resounding defeat on Super Tuesday, with Bradley failing to carry the majority of delegates in a single state, he withdrew from the race on March 9.^[10]

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

Candidate			Most recent office	Home state	Campaign	Popular vote	Contests won	Running mate
	Al Gore		Vice President of the United States (1993–2001)	Tennessee	(Campaign) Secured nomination: March 14, 2000	10,885,814 (75.4%)	56	Joe Lieberman

Withdrew during primaries or convention

Candidate			Most recent office	Home state	Campaign	Popular vote	Contests won
Bill Bradley			U.S. Senator from New Jersey (1979–1997)	New Jersey	(Campaign) Withdrew: March 9, 2000	3,027,912 (21.0%)	0
Lyndon LaRouche			Founder of the LaRouche Movement	New Hampshire	(Campaign)	276,075 (1.19%)	0

Declined

Ann Richards, former Governor of Texas
Warren Beatty, actor^[11]^[12]
Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader and 1988 presidential candidate^[4]
Dick Gephardt, House Minority Leader from Missouri^[13]
John Kerry, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts^[13]
Jay Rockefeller, U.S. Senator from West Virginia^[13]
Ted Turner, media mogul^[14]
Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator from Minnesota^[15]

Polling

Source^[16]	Date	Al Gore	Bill Bradley	Jesse Jackson	Dick Gephardt	John Kerry	Bob Kerrey	Paul Wellstone
Gallup	Sep. 6–7, 1997	49%	13%	15%	7%	5%	4%	0%
Gallup	May 8–10, 1998	51%	8%	12%	7%	2%	3%	1%
Gallup	Oct. 23–25, 1998	41%	15%	11%	14%	4%	4%	1%
Gallup	Jan. 8–10, 1999	47%	12%	11%	13%	5%	-	1%
Gallup	Mar. 12–14, 1999	58%	21%	15%	-	-	-	-
Gallup	Apr. 13–14, 1999	54%	34%	-	-	-	-	-
Gallup	Apr. 30 – May 2, 1999	66%	23%	-	-	-	-	-
Gallup	May 23–24, 1999	59%	30%	-	-	-	-	-
Gallup	Jun. 4–5, 1999	63%	28%	-	-	-	-	-
Gallup	Jun. 25–27, 1999	64%	28%	-	-	-	-	-
Gallup	Aug. 16–18, 1999	58%	31%	-	-	-	-	-
Gallup	Sep. 10–14, 1999	63%	30%	-	-	-	-	-
Gallup	Oct. 8–10, 1999	51%	39%	-	-	-	-	-
Gallup	Oct. 21–24, 1999	57%	32%	-	-	-	-	-
Gallup	Nov. 4–7, 1999	58%	33%	-	-	-	-	-

Results

Statewide

**2000 Democratic primaries and caucuses**^[17]
Date	Pledged delegates	Contest	Bill Bradley	Al Gore	Lyndon LaRouche
January 24	47	Iowa caucuses	36.60% (18)	62.85% (29)	0.00%
February 1	22	New Hampshire primary	45.59% (9)	49.73% (13)	0.08%
February 5	0	Delaware primary	40.18%	57.24%	2.59%
February 29	0	Washington primary	34.21%	65.25%	0.54%
March 7 (1,310) (Super Tuesday)	6	American Samoa caucuses	?% (1)	?% (3)	3.03%
	367	California primary	18.19% (62)	81.21% (305)	0.60%
	54	Connecticut primary	41.37% (24)	55.60% (30)	3.03%
	77	Georgia primary	16.18% (12)	83.82% (65)	-
	20	Hawaii caucuses	?% (2)	?% (20)	?%
	18	Idaho caucuses	?% (4)	?% (14)	?%
	23	Maine primary	41.26% (10)	54.02% (13)	0.32%
	68	Maryland primary	28.45% (19)	67.32% (49)	0.89%
	93	Massachusetts primary	37.17% (35)	59.77% (58)	0.37%
	75	Missouri primary	33.56% (24)	64.62% (51)	0.34%
	243	New York primary	326,417 33.46% (85)	639,417 65.62% (158)	0.92%
	14	North Dakota caucuses	?% (2)	?% (12)	?%
	146	Ohio primary	24.70% (37)	73.61% (109)	1.69%
	22	Rhode Island primary	40.35% (9)	56.92% (13)	0.42%
	15	Vermont primary	43.89% (6)	54.33% (9)	0.72%
	75	Washington caucuses	28.20% (22)	68.39% (53)	0.54%
March 9	43	South Carolina caucuses	1.78%	91.79% (43)	0.0%
March 10 (75)	51	Colorado primary	23.29% (7)	71.43% (44)	0.93%
March 10 (75)	24	Utah primary	20.14% (3)	79.86% (21)	-
March 11 (250)	47	Arizona primary	18.88% (7)	77.89% (40)	1.66%
	129	Michigan caucuses	16.27% (9)	82.74% (120)	0.99%
	74	Minnesota caucuses	~12% (2)	~74% (72)	11.0%
March 12	20	Nevada caucuses	2.22%	88.91% (20)	0.0%
March 14 (566)	161	Florida primary	18.17% (17)	81.83% (144)	-
	61	Louisiana primary	19.92% (7)	72.96% (54)	3.89%
	37	Mississippi primary	8.60%	89.62% (37)	1.78%
	45	Oklahoma primary	25.44% (7)	68.71% (38)	5.85%
	68	Tennessee primary	5.26%	92.13% (68)	0.48%
	194	Texas primary	16.34% (12)	80.24% (182)	3.42%
March 18	3	Guam caucuses	?%	?% (3)	1.41%
March 21	161	Illinois primary	14.24% (12)	84.35% (149)	1.41%
March 25	13	Wyoming caucuses	4.98%	85.44% (13)	7.28%
March 27	15	Delaware caucuses	?%	?% (15)	?%
April 1	51	Virgin Islands caucuses	?%	?% (3)	?%
April 2	51	Puerto Rico caucuses	?%	?% (51)	?%
April 4 (238)	161	Pennsylvania primary	20.73% (21)	74.20% (139)	4.53%
April 4 (238)	77	Wisconsin primary	8.77%	88.55% (77)	1.01%
April 15	79	Virginia caucuses	?%	?% (79)	?%
April 22	13	Alaska caucuses	?%	68.39% (13)	?%
May 2 (175)	17	Washington, D.C. primary	-	95.90% (17)	4.10%
	72	Indiana primary	21.95% (10)	74.91% (62)	3.15%
	86	North Carolina primary	18.31% (13)	70% (73)	2.11%
May 9 (56)	26	Nebraska primary	26.27% (5)	69.38% (21)	3.01%
May 9 (56)	30	West Virginia primary	18.44% (3)	72.01% (27)	1.90%
May 16	47	Oregon primary	-	84.86% (47)	10.86%
May 23 (86)	37	Arkansas primary	-	78.47% (37)	21.53% (7)
	0	Idaho primary	17.4%	75.73%	8.24%
	49	Kentucky primary	14.68% (3)	71.26% (46)	2.24%
June 6 (217)	54	Alabama primary	-	76.74% (54)	5.58%
	17	Montana primary	-	77.87% (15)	-
	105	New Jersey primary	-	94.89% (105)	5.11%
	26	New Mexico primary	20.57% (3)	74.63% (23)	2.32%
	15	South Dakota primary	-	?% (15)	?%

Counties carried

Gore

30–40%
40–50%
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
90–100%

Bradley

40–50%
50–60%
60–70%

Uncommitted

Uncommitted

Tie

Tie

Al Gore

Bill Bradley