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| Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Bush/Cheney, Blue denotes those won by Kerry/Edwards. The split vote in Minnesota denotes a faithless elector's vote counted for John Edwards. Each number represents the electoral votes a state gave to one candidate. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. Foreign policy was the dominant theme throughout the election campaign, particularly Bush's conduct of the War on Terrorism and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
As in the 2000 presidential election, voting controversies and concerns of irregularities emerged during and after the vote. The winner was not determined until the following day, when Kerry decided not to dispute Bush's win in the state of Ohio. The state held enough electoral votes to determine the winner of the presidency. Both Kerry and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean have stated their opinion that voting in Ohio did not proceed fairly and that, had it done so, the Democratic ticket might have won that state and therefore the election.[2] However, there was far less controversy about this election than in 2000.
Only three states changed allegiance. New Mexico and Iowa voted Democratic in 2000, but voted Republican in 2004. New Hampshire voted Republican in 2000 but voted Democratic in 2004. In the Electoral College, Bush received 286 votes, and Kerry 251. Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, who had also run as a Democratic primary candidate, received one electoral vote for president from a faithless elector from Minnesota. This was presumably in error, as that elector also still separately voted for Edwards for vice president.
Contents |
George W. Bush won the presidency in 2000 after the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore remanded the case to the Florida Supreme Court, which declared there was not sufficient time to hold a recount without violating the U.S. Constitution.
Just eight months into his presidency, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 suddenly transformed Bush into a wartime president. Bush's approval ratings surged to near 90%. Within a month, the forces of a coalition led by the United States invaded Afghanistan, which had been sheltering Osama bin Laden, suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks. By December, the Taliban had been removed as rulers of Kabul, although a long and ongoing reconstruction would follow, severely hampered by on-going turmoil and violence within the country.
The Bush administration then turned its attention to Iraq, and argued the need to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq had become urgent. Among the stated reasons were that Saddam's regime had tried to acquire nuclear material and had not properly accounted for biological and chemical material it was known to have previously possessed, and believed to still maintain. Both the possession of these weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and the failure to account for them, would violate the U.N. sanctions. The assertion about WMD was hotly advanced by the Bush administration from the beginning, but other major powers including China, France, Germany, and Russia remained unconvinced that Iraq was a threat and refused to allow passage of a UN Security Council resolution to authorize the use of force.[3] Iraq permitted UN weapon inspectors in November 2002, who were continuing their work to assess the WMD claim when the Bush administration decided to proceed with war without UN authorization and told the inspectors to leave the country.[4] The United States invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, along with a "coalition of the willing" that consisted of additional troops from the United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent, from Australia and Poland. Within about three weeks, the invasion caused the collapse of both the Iraqi government and its armed forces, however, the U.S. and allied forces failed to find any weapon of mass destruction in Iraq. Traces of former materials and weapons labs were reported to have been located, but no "smoking guns". Nevertheless, on May 1, George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, where he gave a speech announcing the end of "major combat operations" in the Iraq war. Bush's approval rating in May was at 66%, according to a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll.[5] However, Bush's high approval ratings did not last. First, while the war itself was popular in the U.S., the reconstruction and attempted "democratization" of Iraq lost some support as months passed and casualty figures increased, with no decrease in violence nor progress toward stability or reconstruction. Second, as investigators combed through the country, they failed to find the predicted WMD stockpiles, which led to debate over the rationale for the war.
Bush's popularity rose as a wartime president, and he was able to ward off any serious challenge to the Republican nomination. Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island considered challenging Bush on an anti-war platform in New Hampshire, but decided not to run after the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003.[6]
On March 10, 2004, Bush officially clinched the number of delegates needed to be nominated at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City. Bush accepted the nomination on September 2, 2004, and selected Vice President Dick Cheney as his running mate. (In New York, the ticket was also on the ballot as candidates of the Conservative Party of New York State). During the convention and throughout the campaign, Bush focused on two themes: defending America against terrorism and building an ownership society. The ownership society included allowing people to invest some of their Social Security in the stock market, increasing home and stock ownership, and encouraging more people to buy their own health insurance.
Democratic candidates
By summer of 2003, Howard Dean had become the apparent front runner for the Democratic nomination, performing strongly in most polls and leading the pack with the largest campaign war chest. Dean's strength as a fund raiser was attributed mainly to his embrace of the Internet for campaigning. The majority of his donations came from individual supporters, who became known as Deanites, or, more commonly, Deaniacs. Generally regarded as a pragmatic centrist during his time as governor, Dean emerged during his presidential campaign as a left-wing populist, denouncing the policies of the Bush administration (especially the 2003 invasion of Iraq) as well as fellow Democrats, who, in his view, failed to strongly oppose them. Senator Lieberman, a liberal on domestic issues but a hawk on the War on Terror, failed to gain traction with liberal Democratic primary voters.
In September 2003, retired four-star general Wesley Clark announced his intention to run in the presidential primary election for the Democratic Party nomination. His campaign focused on themes of leadership and patriotism; early campaign ads relied heavily on biography. His late start left him with relatively few detailed policy proposals. This weakness was apparent in his first few debates, although he soon presented a range of position papers, including a major tax-relief plan. Nevertheless, many Democrats did not flock to his campaign.
In sheer numbers, Kerry had fewer endorsements than Howard Dean, who was far ahead in the superdelegate race going into the Iowa caucuses in January 2004, although Kerry led the endorsement race in Iowa, New Hampshire, Arizona, South Carolina, New Mexico and Nevada. Kerry's main perceived weakness was in his neighboring state of New Hampshire and nearly all national polls. Most other states did not have updated polling numbers to give an accurate placing for the Kerry campaign before Iowa. Heading into the primaries, Kerry's campaign was largely seen as in trouble, particularly after he fired campaign manager Jim Jordan. The key factors enabling it to survive was when fellow Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy assigned Mary Beth Cahill to be the campaign manager, as well as Kerry's mortgaging his own home to lend the money to his campaign (while his wife was a billionaire, campaign finance rules prohibited using one's personal fortune). He also brought on the "magical" Michael Whouley who would be credited with helping bring home the Iowa victory the same as he did in New Hampshire for Al Gore in 2000 against Bill Bradley.
By the January 2004 Iowa caucuses, the field had dwindled down to nine candidates, as Bob Graham dropped out of the race and Howard Dean was a strong front-runner. However, the Iowa caucuses yielded unexpectedly strong results for Democratic candidates John Kerry, who earned 38% of the state's delegates and John Edwards, who took 32%. Former front-runner Howard Dean slipped to 18% and third place, and Richard Gephardt finished fourth (11%). In the days leading up to the Iowa vote, there was much negative campaigning between the Dean and Gephardt camps.
The dismal results caused Gephardt to drop out and later endorse Kerry. What further hurt Dean was a speech he gave at a post-caucus rally. Dean was shouting over the cheers of his enthusiastic audience, but the crowd noise was being filtered out by his unidirectional microphone, leaving only his full-throated exhortations audible to the television viewers. To those at home, he seemed to raise his voice out of sheer emotion. The incessant replaying of the "Dean Scream" by the press became a debate on the topic of whether Dean was the victim of media bias. The scream scene was shown approximately 633 times by cable and broadcast news networks in just four days following the incident, a number that does not include talk shows and local news broadcasts.[7] However, those who were in the actual audience that day insist that they were not aware of the infamous "scream" until they returned to their hotel rooms and saw it on TV.[8]
Kerry, on the other hand, had revived his campaign and began using the slogan "Comeback Kerry."
On January 27, Kerry triumphed again, winning the New Hampshire primary. Dean finished second, Clark was third, and Edwards placed fourth. The largest of the debates was held at Saint Anselm College where both Kerry and Dean had strong performances.
The following week, John Edwards won the South Carolina primary and finished a strong second in Oklahoma to Clark. Lieberman dropped out of the campaign the following day. Kerry dominated throughout February and his support quickly snowballed as he won caucuses and primaries, taking in a string of wins in Michigan, Washington, Maine, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., Nevada, Wisconsin, Utah, Hawaii, and Idaho. Clark and Dean dropped out during this time, leaving Edwards as the only real threat to Kerry. Kucinich and Sharpton continued to run despite poor results at the polls.
In March's Super Tuesday, Kerry won decisive victories in the California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island primaries and the Minnesota caucuses. Dean, despite having withdrawn from the race two weeks earlier, won his home state of Vermont. Edwards finished only slightly behind Kerry in Georgia, but, failing to win a single state other than South Carolina, chose to withdraw from the presidential race.
On July 6, John Kerry selected John Edwards as his running mate, shortly before the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, held later that month. Days before Kerry announced Edwards as his running mate, Kerry gave a short list of three candidates: Sen John Edwards, Rep Dick Gephardt, and Gov Tom Vilsack. Heading into the convention, the Kerry/Edwards ticket unveiled their new slogan—a promise to make America "stronger at home and more respected in the world." Kerry made his Vietnam War experience the prominent theme of the convention. In accepting the nomination, he began his speech with, "I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty." He later delivered what may have been the speech's most memorable line when he said, "the future doesn't belong to fear, it belongs to freedom," a quote that later appeared in a Kerry/Edwards television advertisement.
There were four other pairs of candidates who were on the ballot in states with enough electoral votes to have a theoretical chance of winning a majority in the Electoral College.
Bush focused his campaign on national security, presenting himself as a decisive leader and contrasted Kerry as a "flip-flopper." Bush's point was that Americans could trust him to be tough on terrorism while Kerry would be "uncertain in the face of danger." Bush also sought to portray Kerry as a "Massachusetts liberal" who was out of touch with mainstream Americans. One of Kerry's slogans was "Stronger at home, respected in the world." This advanced the suggestion that Kerry would pay more attention to domestic concerns; it also encapsulated Kerry's contention that Bush had alienated American allies by his foreign policy.
According to one exit poll, people who voted for Bush cited the issues of terrorism and moral values as the most important factors in their decision.[9] Kerry supporters cited the war in Iraq, the economy and jobs, and health care.[9]
Over the course of Bush's first term in office, his extremely high approval ratings immediately following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks steadily dwindled, peaking only during combat operations in Iraq in the spring of 2003, and again following the capture of Saddam Hussein in December the same year.[10] Kerry supporters attempted to capitalize on the dwindling popularity to rally anti-war sentiment.
In March 2004, the Bush/Cheney campaign was criticized by 2004 Racism Watch. The organization took offense to a campaign ad, which showed a man who was possibly Middle Eastern in a negative light. 2004 Racism Watch issued a press release calling on the campaign to pull the ad, calling it disturbing and offensive.[11]
During August and September 2004, there was an intense focus on events that occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Bush was accused of failing to fulfill his required service in the Texas Air National Guard.[12] However, the focus quickly shifted to the conduct of CBS News after they aired a segment on 60 Minutes Wednesday introducing what became known as the Killian documents.[13] Serious doubts about the documents' authenticity quickly emerged,[14] leading CBS to appoint a review panel that eventually resulted in the firing of the news producer and other significant staffing changes.[15][16]
Meanwhile, Kerry was accused by the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, who averred that "phony war crimes charges, his exaggerated claims about his own service in Vietnam, and his deliberate misrepresentation of the nature and effectiveness of Swift boat operations compels us to step forward." The group challenged the legitimacy of each of the combat medals awarded to Kerry by the U.S. Navy, and the disposition of his discharge.
In the beginning of September, the successful Republican National Convention along with the allegations by Kerry's former mates gave Bush his first comfortable margin since Kerry had won the nomination. A post-convention Gallup poll showed the President leading the Senator by 14 points.[17][18]
Three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate were organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, and held in the autumn of 2004. As expected, these debates set the agenda for the final leg of the political contest. Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik and Green Party candidate David Cobb were arrested while trying to access the debates. Badnarik was attempting to serve papers to the Commission on Presidential Debates.
The first debate was held on September 30 at the University of Miami, moderated by Jim Lehrer of PBS. During the debate, slated to focus on foreign policy, Kerry accused Bush of having failed to gain international support for the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, saying the only countries assisting the U.S. during the invasion were the United Kingdom and Australia. Bush replied to this by saying, "Well, actually, he forgot Poland." Later, a consensus formed among mainstream pollsters and pundits that Kerry won the debate decisively, strengthening what had come to be seen as a weak and troubled campaign.[19] In the days after, coverage focused on Bush's apparent annoyance with Kerry and numerous scowls and negative facial expressions. On October 5, the Vice Presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards was held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and was moderated by Gwen Ifill of PBS. An initial poll by ABC indicated a victory for Cheney, while polls by CNN and MSNBC gave it to Edwards.[20][21][22][23]
The second presidential debate was held at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 8, moderated by Charles Gibson of ABC. Conducted in a town meeting format, less formal than the first Presidential debate, this debate saw Bush and Kerry taking questions on a variety of subjects from a local audience.[24] Bush attempted to deflect criticism of what was described as his scowling demeanor during the first debate, joking at one point about one of Kerry's remarks, "That answer made me want to scowl."[25]
Bush and Kerry met for the third and final debate at Arizona State University on October 13.[26] 51 million viewers watched the debate which was moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS News. However, at the time of the ASU debate, there were 15.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the Major League Baseball playoffs broadcast simultaneously.
Source (Electoral and Popular Vote): Federal Elections Commission Electoral and Popular Vote Summary
(a) One faithless elector from Minnesota cast an electoral vote for John Edwards for president.
(b) Because Arrin Hawkins, then aged 28, was constitutionally ineligible to serve as vice president, Margaret Trowe replaced her on the ballot in some states. James Harris replaced Calero on certain other states' ballots.
| State | Bush | Kerry | Nader | Badnarik | Peroutka | Cobb | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 1,176,394 | 693,933 | 6,701 | 3,495 | 1,994 | - | write-in 898 |
| Alaska | 190,889 | 111,025 | 5,069 | 1,675 | 2,092 | 1,058 | write-in 790 |
| Arizona | 1,104,294 | 893,524 | 2,773 | 11,856 | - | 138 | |
| Arkansas | 573,182 | 470,230 | 6,172 | 2,352 | 2,083 | 1,491 | |
| California | 5,509,826 | 6,745,485 | 21,213 | 50,165 | 26,645 | 40,771 | Leonard Peltier 27,607, miscellaneous 140 |
| Colorado | 1,101,255 | 1,001,732 | 12,718 | 7,664 | 2,562 | 1,591 | Stanford Andress 804, Gene Amondson 378, Bill Van Auken 329, James Harris 241, Walt Brown 216, Earl Dodge 140 |
| Connecticut | 693,826 | 857,488 | 12,969 | 3,367 | 1,543 | 9,564 | Roger Calero 12 |
| Delaware | 171,660 | 200,152 | 2,153 | 586 | 289 | 250 | Walt Brown 100 |
| District of Columbia | 21,256 | 202,970 | 1,485 | 502 | - | 737 | write-in 506, James Harris 130 |
| Florida | 3,964,522 | 3,583,544 | 32,971 | 11,996 | 6,626 | 3,917 | Walt Brown 3,502, James Harris 2,732 |
| Georgia | 1,914,254 | 1,366,149 | 2,231 | 18,387 | 580 | 228 | Tom Tancredo 26, John Joseph Kennedy 8, David Byrne 7, James Pace 5 |
| Hawaii | 194,191 | 231,708 | - | 1,377 | - | 1,737 | |
| Idaho | 409,235 | 181,098 | 1,115 | 3,844 | 3,084 | 58 | - |
| Illinois | 2,346,608 | 2,891,989 | 3,571 | 32,452 | 440 | 241 | Peter Camejo 115, Lawson Bone 4, Ernest Virag 4, John Joseph Kennedy 3, David Cook 2, Margaret Trowe 1, Joann Breivogel 1, John Joseph Kennedy 1, Robert Christensen 1 |
| Indiana | 1,479,438 | 969,011 | 1,328 | 18,058 | - | 102 | John Joseph Kennedy 37, Walt Brown 22, Lawson Mitchell Bone 6 |
| Iowa | 751,957 | 741,898 | 5,973 | 2,992 | 1,304 | 1,141 | James Harris 373, Bill Van Auken 176 |
| Kansas | 736,456 | 434,993 | 9,348 | 4,013 | 2,899 | 33 | John Joseph Kennedy 5, Bill Van Auken 5, Walt Brown 4 |
| Kentucky | 1,069,439 | 712,733 | 8,856 | 2,619 | 2,213 | - | |
| Louisiana | 1,102,169 | 820,299 | 7,032 | 2,781 | 5,203 | 1,276 | Walt Brown 1,795, James Harris 985 |
| Maine | 330,201 | 396,842 | 8,069 | 1,965 | 735 | 2,936 | write-in 4 |
| Maryland | 1,024,703 | 1,334,493 | 11,854 | 6,094 | 3,421 | 3,632 | Joe Schriner 27, John Joseph Kennedy 7, Ted Brown (Libertarian) senior 4, Lawson Mitchell Bone 2, Robert Abraham Boyle II 1 |
| Massachusetts | 1,071,109 | 1,803,800 | 4,806 | 15,022 | - | 10,623 | write-in 7,028 |
| Michigan | 2,313,746 | 2,479,183 | 24,035 | 10,552 | 4,980 | 5,325 | Walt Brown 1,431 |
| Minnesota | 1,346,695 | 1,445,014 | 18,683 | 4,639 | 3,074 | 4,408 | write-in 2,521, Thomas Harens 2,387, Bill Van Auken 539, Roger Calero 416, John Joseph Kennedy 4, Debra Joyce Renderos 2, Martin Wishnatsky 2, Walt Brown 2, Joy Graham-Prendergast 1 |
| Mississippi | 672,660 | 457,766 | 3,175 | 1,793 | 1,758 | 1,073 | James Harris 1,599, write-in 215 |
| Missouri | 1,455,713 | 1,259,171 | 1,294 | 9,831 | 5,355 | - | |
| Montana | 266,063 | 173,710 | 6,168 | 1,733 | 1,764 | 996 | |
| Nebraska | 512,814 | 254,328 | 5,698 | 2,041 | 1,314 | 978 | write-in 931, Roger Calero 82 |
| Nevada | 418,690 | 397,190 | 4,838 | 3,176 | 1,152 | 853 | 'None of These Candidates' 3,688 |
| New Hampshire | 331,237 | 340,511 | 4,479 | 372 | 161 | - | write-in 1,435 |
| New Jersey | 1,670,003 | 1,911,430 | 19,418 | 4,514 | 2,750 | 1,807 | Walt Brown 664, Bill Van Auken 575, Roger Calero 530 |
| New Mexico | 376,930 | 370,942 | 4,053 | 2,382 | 771 | 1,226 | |
| New York | 2,962,567 | 4,314,280 | 99,873 | 11,607 | 207 | 87 | Roger Calero 2,405, Michael Halpin 4, John Joseph Kennedy 4, Bill Van Auken 2 |
| North Carolina | 1,961,166 | 1,525,849 | 1,805 | 11,731 | - | 108 | Walt Brown 348 |
| North Dakota | 196,651 | 111,052 | 3,756 | 851 | 514 | - | Martin Wishnatsky 9 |
| Ohio | 2,858,727 | 2,739,952 | - | 14,695 | 11,907 | 186 | Joe Schriner 114, James Harris 22, Richard Duncan 16, Thomas Zych 10, John Thompson Parker 2 |
| Oklahoma | 959,792 | 503,966 | - | - | - | - | |
| Oregon | 866,831 | 943,163 | - | 7,260 | 5,257 | 5,315 | miscellaneous 8,956 |
| Pennsylvania | 2,793,847 | 2,938,095 | 2,656 | 21,185 | 6,318 | 6,319 | |
| Rhode Island | 169,046 | 259,760 | 4,651 | 907 | 339 | 1,333 | write-in 845, John Parker 253 |
| South Carolina | 937,974 | 661,699 | 5,520 | 3,608 | 5,317 | 1,488 | Walt Brown 2,124 |
| South Dakota | 232,584 | 149,244 | 4,320 | 964 | 1,103 | - | |
| Tennessee | 1,384,375 | 1,036,477 | 8,992 | 4,866 | 2,570 | 33 | Walt Brown 6 |
| Texas | 4,526,917 | 2,832,704 | 9,159 | 38,787 | 1,626 | 1,014 | Andrew Falk 219, John Joseph Kennedy 126, Walt Brown 111, Deborah Allen 92 |
| Utah | 663,742 | 241,199 | 11,305 | 3,375 | 6,841 | 39 | Charles Jay 946, James Harris 393, Larry Topham 2, John Joseph Kennedy 1, Joe Schriner 1. |
| Vermont | 121,180 | 184,067 | 4,494 | 1,102 | - | - | write-in 957, John Thompson Parker 265, Roger Calero 244 |
| Virginia | 1,716,959 | 1,454,742 | 2,393 | 11,032 | 10,161 | 104 | write-in 5,473 |
| Washington | 1,304,894 | 1,510,201 | 23,283 | 11,955 | 3,922 | 2,974 | John Thompson Parker 1,077, James Harris 547, Bill Van Auken 231 |
| West Virginia | 423,778 | 326,541 | 4,063 | 1,405 | 82 | 5 | John Joseph Kennedy 13 |
| Wisconsin | 1,478,120 | 1,489,504 | 16,390 | 6,464 | - | 2,661 | write-in 2,986, Walt Brown 471, James Harris 411 |
| Wyoming | 167,629 | 70,776 | 2,741 | 1,171 | 631 | - | write-in 480 |
Although Guam has no votes in the Electoral College, they have held a straw poll for their presidential preferences since 1980. In 2004, the results were Bush 21,490 (64.1%), Kerry 11,781 (35.1%), Nader 196 (0.58%) and Badnarik 67 (0.2%).[27]
Because of a request by Ralph Nader, New Hampshire held a recount. In New York, Bush obtained 2,806,993 votes on the Republican ticket and 155,574 on the Conservative ticket. Kerry obtained 4,180,755 votes on the Democratic ticket and 133,525 votes on the Working Families ticket. Nader obtained 84,247 votes on the Independence ticket, and 15,626 votes on the Peace and Justice ticket.
Note also: Official Federal Election Commission Report, with the latest, most final, and complete vote totals available.
Source: FEC[28]
Blue font color denotes states won by Democrat John Kerry; red denotes those won by Republican President George W. Bush.
States where margin of victory was under 5% (115 electoral votes):
States where margin of victory was more than 5% but less than 10% (149 electoral votes):
| Presidential ticket | Party | Ballot access |
|---|---|---|
| Bush / Cheney | Republican | 50+DC |
| Kerry / Edwards | Democrat | 50+DC |
| Badnarik / Campagna | Libertarian | 48+DC |
| Peroutka / Baldwin | Constitution | 36 |
| Nader / Camejo | Independent, Reform | 34+DC |
| Cobb / LaMarche | Green | 27+DC |
One elector in Minnesota cast a ballot for president with the name of “John Ewards”[29] [sic] written on it. The Electoral College officials certified this ballot as a vote for John Edwards for president. The remaining nine electors cast ballots for John Kerry. All ten electors in the state cast ballots for John Edwards for Vice President (John Edwards' name was spelled correctly on all ballots for Vice President).[30] This was the first time in U.S. history that an elector had cast a vote for the same person to be both President and Vice President; another faithless elector in the 1800 election had voted twice for Aaron Burr, but under that electoral system only votes for the President's position were cast, with the runner-up in the Electoral College becoming Vice President (and the second vote for Burr was discounted and re-assigned to Thomas Jefferson in any event, as it violated Electoral College rules).
Electoral balloting in Minnesota was performed by secret ballot, and none of the electors admitted to casting the Edwards vote for President, so it may never be known who the faithless elector was. It is not even known whether the vote for Edwards was deliberate or unintentional; the Republican Secretary of State and several of the Democratic electors have expressed the opinion that this was an accident.[31]
New York's initial electoral vote certificate indicated that all of its 31 electoral votes for president were cast for “John L. Kerry of Massachusetts” instead of John F. Kerry, who won the popular vote in the state.[32] This was apparently the result of a typographical error, and an amended electoral vote certificate with the correct middle initial was transmitted to the President of the Senate prior to the official electoral vote count.[33]
The results produced many interesting features. A partial list is given below, but it is by no means complete.
The U.S. population is continuously shifting, and some states grow in population faster than others. With the completion of the 2000 census, Congressional reapportionment took place, moving some representative districts from the slowest growing states to the fastest growing. As a result, several states had a different number of electors in the U.S. Electoral College in 2004 than in 2000, since the number of electors allotted to each state is equal to the sum of the number of Senators and Representatives from that state.
The following table shows the change in electors from the 2000 election. Red states represent those won by Bush; and Blue states, those won by both Gore and Kerry. All states except Nebraska and Maine use a winner-take-all allocation of electors. Each of these states was won by the same party in 2004 that had won it in 2000; thus, George W. Bush received a net gain of seven electoral votes due to reapportionment while the Democrats lost the same amount.
| Gained votes | Lost votes |
|---|---|
|
|
(This table uses the currently common Red→Republican, Blue→Democratic color association, as do the maps on this page. Some older party-affiliation maps use the opposite color coding for historical reasons.)
During the campaign and as the results came in on the night of the election there was much focus on Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. These three swing states were seen as evenly divided, and with each casting 20 electoral votes or more, they had the power to decide the election. As the final results came in, Kerry took Pennsylvania and then Bush took Florida, focusing all attention on Ohio.
The morning after the election, the major candidates were neck and neck. It was clear that the result in Ohio, along with two other states who had still not declared (New Mexico and Iowa), would decide the winner. Bush had established a lead of around 130,000 votes but the Democrats pointed to provisional ballots that had yet to be counted, initially reported to number as high as 200,000. Bush had preliminary leads of less than 5% of the vote in only four states, but if Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico had all eventually gone to Kerry, a win for Bush in Ohio would have created a 269–269 tie in the Electoral College. The result of an electoral tie would cause the election to be decided in the House of Representatives with each state casting one vote, regardless of population. Such a scenario would almost certainly have resulted in a victory for Bush, as Republicans controlled more House delegations. Therefore, the outcome of the election hinged solely on the result in Ohio, regardless of the final totals elsewhere. In the afternoon Ohio's Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, announced that it was statistically impossible for the Democrats to make up enough valid votes in the provisional ballots to win. At the time provisional ballots were reported as numbering 140,000 (and later estimated to be only 135,000). Faced with this announcement, John Kerry conceded defeat. Had Kerry won Ohio, he would have won the election despite losing the national popular vote by over 3 million votes, a complete reversal of the 2000 election when Bush won the presidency despite losing the popular vote to Al Gore by some 500,000 votes.
The upper Midwest bloc of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin is also notable, casting a sum of 27 electoral votes. The following is list of the states considered swing states in the 2004 election by most news organizations and which candidate they eventually went for. The two major parties chose to focus their advertising on these states:
| Bush:
Kerry: |
After the election, some sources reported indications of possible data irregularities and systematic flaws during the voting process, which are covered in detail by the election controversy articles.
Although the overall result of the election was not challenged by the Kerry campaign, Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik obtained a recount in Ohio. This recount was completed December 28, 2004, although on January 24, 2007, a jury convicted two Ohio elections officials of selecting precincts to recount where they already knew the hand total would match the machine total, thereby avoiding having to perform a full recount.[39]
At the official counting of the electoral votes on January 6, a motion was made contesting Ohio's electoral votes. Because the motion was supported by at least one member of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, election law mandated that each house retire to debate and vote on the motion. In the House of Representatives, the motion was supported by 31 Democrats. It was opposed by 178 Republicans, 88 Democrats and one independent. Not voting were 52 Republicans and 80 Democrats.[40] Four people elected to the House had not yet taken office, and one seat was vacant. In the Senate, it was supported only by its maker, Senator Boxer, with 74 Senators opposed and 25 not voting. During the debate, no Senator argued that the outcome of the election should be changed by either court challenge or revote. Senator Boxer claimed that she had made the motion not to challenge the outcome, but to “shed the light of truth on these irregularities.”
Kerry would later state (in interviewer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s words) that "the widespread irregularities make it impossible to know for certain that the [Ohio] outcome reflected the will of the voters." In the same article, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said "I'm not confident that the election in Ohio was fairly decided... We know that there was substantial voter suppression, and the machines were not reliable. It should not be a surprise that the Republicans are willing to do things that are unethical to manipulate elections. That's what we suspect has happened." [2]
At the invitation of the United States government, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sent a team of observers to monitor the presidential elections in 2004. It was the first time the OSCE had sent observers to a U.S. presidential election, although they had been invited in the past.[65] In September 2004 the OSCE issued a report on U.S. electoral processes[66][67] and the election final report.[68] The report reads: "The November 2, 2004 elections in the United States mostly met the OSCE commitments included in the 1990 Copenhagen Document. They were conducted in an environment that reflects a long-standing democratic tradition, including institutions governed by the rule of law, free and generally professional media, and a civil society intensively engaged in the election process. There was exceptional public interest in the two leading presidential candidates and the issues raised by their respective campaigns, as well as in the election process itself."
Earlier, some 13 U.S. Representatives from the Democratic Party had sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking for the UN to monitor the elections. The UN responded that such a request could only come from the official national executive. The move was met by considerable opposition from Republican lawmakers.[69] The OSCE is not affiliated with the United Nations.
For 2004, some states expedited the implementation of electronic voting systems for the election, raising several issues:
The 2004 election was the first to be affected by the campaign finance reforms mandated by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain-Feingold Bill for its sponsors in the United States Senate). Because of the Act's restrictions on candidates' and parties' fundraising, a large number of so-called 527 groups emerged. Named for a section of the Internal Revenue Code, these groups were able to raise large amounts of money for various political causes as long as they do not coordinate their activities with political campaigns. Examples of 527s include Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, MoveOn.org, the Media Fund, and America Coming Together. Many such groups were active throughout the campaign season. (There was some similar activity, although on a much lesser scale, during the 2000 campaign.)
To distinguish official campaigning from independent campaigning, political advertisements on television were required to include a verbal disclaimer identifying the organization responsible for the advertisement. Advertisements produced by political campaigns usually included the statement, “I'm [candidate's name], and I approve this message.” Advertisements produced by independent organizations usually included the statement, “[Organization name] is responsible for the content of this advertisement,” and from September 3 (60 days before the general election), such organizations' ads were prohibited from mentioning any candidate by name. Previously, television advertisements only required a written “paid for by” disclaimer on the screen.
This law was not well known or widely publicized at the beginning of the Democratic primary season, which led to some early misperception of Howard Dean, who was the first candidate to buy television advertising in this election cycle. Not realizing that the law required the phrasing, some people viewing the ads reportedly questioned why Dean might say such a thing—such questions were easier to ask because of the maverick nature of Dean's campaign in general.
A ballot initiative in Colorado, known as Amendment 36, would have changed the way in which the state apportions its electoral votes. Rather than assigning all 9 of the state's electors to the candidate with a plurality of popular votes, under the amendment Colorado would have assigned presidential electors proportionally to the statewide vote count, which would be a unique system (Nebraska and Maine assign electoral votes based on vote totals within each congressional district). Detractors claimed that this splitting would diminish Colorado's influence in the Electoral College, and the amendment ultimately failed, receiving only 34% of the vote.
Although the Colorado initiative failed, similar concerns in other states eventually led to the emergence of National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which was signed by the first state in April 2007 and was adopted by 9 states, adding up to 132 electoral votes, by August 2011.
A website originally existed for George W. Bush's campaign, but after the election it was removed and the URL now redirects to the Republican Party website. The Internet Archive has a copy of it as of just before the election. The other five candidates continued to run their campaign websites as personal sites.
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