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2004 presidential election | |
  Nominees Kerry and Edwards | |
| Convention | |
|---|---|
| Date(s) | July 26–29, 2004 |
| City | Boston,Massachusetts |
| Venue | FleetCenter |
| Chair | Bill Richardson ofNew Mexico |
| Keynote speaker | Barack Obama ofIllinois |
| Candidates | |
| Presidential nominee | John Kerry ofMassachusetts |
| Vice-presidential nominee | John Edwards ofNorth Carolina |
| Voting | |
| Total delegates | 4,322 |
| Votes needed for nomination | 2,164 |
| Results (president) | Kerry (MA): 4,253 (98.40%) Kucinich (OH): 43 (0.99%) Abstention: 26 (0.60%) |
| Results (vice president) | Edwards (NC):Acclamation |
| Ballots | 1 |
| ‹ 2000 · 2008 › | |
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The2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter (now theTD Garden) in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominatedSenatorJohn Kerry fromMassachusetts forpresident and SenatorJohn Edwards fromNorth Carolina forvice president, respectively, in the2004 presidential election.
The 2004Democratic National Convention was famous because it included thekeynote speech ofBarack Obama, who would go on to beelected President four years later. New Mexico GovernorBill Richardson served as chairman of the convention, while former presidential advisor toBill Clinton,Lottie Shackelford, served as vice chairwoman of the convention.
The 2004 Democratic National Convention marked the formal end of the activeprimary election season, although all meaningful primary elections had finished months earlier. After the convention, John Kerry and John Edwards were defeated by the incumbent George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the general election.
The 2004 Democratic National Convention featured a theme for each day of the convention. The first night of the meeting focused on the theme "Plan for America's Future" with speeches devoted to building optimism for John Kerry's candidacy. The second night of the meeting focused on the theme "A Lifetime of Strength and Service" devoted to John Kerry's biography and his path to his nomination. The third night of the meeting focused on the theme "A Stronger More Secure America" devoted to issues ofhomeland security and the globalwar on terror. The last night of the meeting focused on the theme "Stronger at Home, Respected in the World" devoted to the overall agenda of the party to secure the borders, improving domestic welfare while at the same time promoting international cooperation in world affairs.[1] The phrase "Help is on the Way" was often repeated by speakers such as John Edwards.[2][3]
This was the first major party presidential nominating convention to be held since the terrorist attacks ofSeptember 11 attacks.[4] During the convention, there was a memorial service to honor the victims of the attacks. Haleema Salie, who lost her daughter, son-in-law, and unborn grandchild onAmerican Flight 11, spoke.[5]
The 2004 Democratic National Convention successfully passed an official party platform. A forty-three page document, the party platform was entitled "Strong at Home, Respected in the World" – also the name of the theme conveyed on the last night of the convention. The first part of the platform was called "A Strong, Respected America". The section defined specific goals and actions to defeat terrorism, to keepweapons of mass destruction from the hands of terrorists, to promote world peace and security, to strengthen themilitary, to achieveenergy independence and to strengthenhomeland security. The second part of the platform was called, "A Strong, Growing Economy". The section defined specific goals and actions to create what the party called "good jobs" and "standing up for the great American middle class." The third part of the platform was called, "Strong, Healthy Families." The section defined specific goals and actions to reform thehealthcare system in the United States, to improve education and to protect theenvironment. The final part of the platform was called, "A Strong American Community." It stressed thediversity of the nation and the importance of upholdingcivil rights as a major tenet of the party.
| City | Status of bid | Venue | Financial package pledged by city | Previous major party conventions hosted by city |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston,Massachusetts | Winner | FleetCenter | $49.5 million[6] | — |
| Detroit,Michigan | Finalist | Ford Field,Joe Louis Arena,Cobo Hall[7][8] | $50 million[6] | Republican:1980 |
| Miami,Florida | Finalist | American Airlines Arena,Coconut Grove Convention Center, andMiami Beach Convention Center[9] | $40 million[6] | Democratic:1972 Republican:1968,1972 |
| New York City,New York | Finalist | Madison Square Garden[10] | $72 million[6] | Democratic:1868,1924,1976,1980,1992 |
| Baltimore,Maryland | Non-finalist | PotentiallyOriole Park at Camden Yards[8] | Democratic:1832,1835,1840,1844,1848,1852,1860,1872,1912 Republican:1864 Whig:1844,1852,1856 |
After an initial notice to 34 cities, 10 cities requested theRFP to host the convention:Atlanta,Baltimore, Boston,Chicago,Dallas,Detroit,Houston,Miami,New York City andPittsburgh. Of those, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, Miami and New York City submitted bids.[11] Baltimore's bid was considered a long-shot. The city lacked a conventional venue with enough space to accommodate the convention, and was proposing the prospect of erecting a temporary canopy atOriole Park at Camden Yards (which would have likely necessitated the baseball team tenant to vacate the venue for a roughly two-month period of their season).[8] Baltimore was eliminated. Boston, Detroit, Miami and New York City were selected as the finalist cities.[6][11] Each of the finalist cities received visits from members of theDemocratic National Committee during thesite selection process.[11] Boston was announced as the host of the convention on November 13, 2002.[11]
The 2004 Democratic National Convention was the first major party presidential nominating convention to held in Boston. With John Kerry arising as the winner of the primaries, it ultimately was one of the few presidential nominating conventions that was held in the home state of the party's nominee.[4]
As a result of the selection of Boston, organizers of theReebok Pro Summer League developmental basketball program had to fold the league into the upstartLas Vegas Summer League due to a lack of lodging in the Boston area.[12]
UntilChicago,Illinois was selected as the host of the2024 Democratic National Convention, 2004 was the last time for either major party that they chose to hold their convention in a state that was not considered to be aswing state (the Republicans heldtheir 2004 convention inNew York City).[13][14]
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During the convention, U.S. Capitol Police, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other governmental organizations took many security measures to protect the participants of the Democratic National Convention.[15] Security measures included bomb-sniffing dogs, 7-feet high metal barricades, a ban on corporate and private flights atLogan International Airport, along with the temporary closure ofInterstate 93.[15]
Other Bostonians took advantage of the meeting as a national stage for specific agendas.[16] The police union, for example, gained attention with threats of picketing of delegates from entering and exiting functions – a dilemma for Democrats as the party has traditionally been an ally oforganized labor. Having worked without a contract for two years, theBoston Police Patrolmen's Association struck a deal with Boston mayorThomas Menino for a new contract, avoiding a major embarrassment for the party.[16]
State SenatorBarack Obama, the Illinois Democratic candidate forUnited States Senate, delivered the convention'skeynote address on Tuesday, July 27, 2004. His unexpected landslide victory in theMarch 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate Democratic primary had made him overnight a rising star within the national Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir,Dreams from My Father.[17] His keynote address, although not carried by the commercial broadcast television networks, was well received, which further elevated his status within the Democratic Party and led to his reissued memoir becoming a bestseller.[18]As the keynote speaker, Obama set the tone for theparty platform. His speech, proclaiming the unnecessary and artificial divides in American culture and politics, was reminiscent of John Edwards's "Two Americas" stump speech: "There's not aliberal America and aconservative America—there's theUnited States of America." Obama emphasized the importance of unity, and made veiled jabs at theBush administration and the news media's perceivedoversimplification and diversionary use ofwedge issues: "We worship an awesome God in theblue states, and we don't like federal agentspoking around in our libraries in thered states. We coachLittle League in the blue states, and yes, we've got somegay friends in the red states. There are patriots whoopposed thewar in Iraq, and there are patriots whosupported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of uspledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."[19]
Obama noted his interracial and international heritage: he was born inHonolulu, Hawaii to aKenyan immigrant father and awhite mother fromKansas. He emphasized the power of education, recounting the privilege of attending the exclusivePunahou School andHarvard Law School despite his family's poverty, and criticized the perception that poor black youths who read books are "acting white." He went on to describe his successful career in law and politics while raising a family in Chicago. "In no other country on Earth is my story even possible", Obama proclaimed. Towards the end of his speech, he emphasized the importance of hope in the American saga, and he illustrated how that hope manifested itself in the lives of John Kerry, John Edwards, and even his own personal life, as "a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him too." According to Obama, the "audacity of hope" is "God's greatest gift" to Americans, allowing him to feel optimistic that the lives of average Americans can be improved with the right governmental policies. Following the speech political commentatorChris Matthews rightly predicted "I just saw the first black president".[20]
Not yet formally nominated for the vice presidency,John Edwards took the stage at the convention to give the first major national speech of his political career.[citation needed] Delegates raised red-and-white vertical "Edwards" banners and chanted his name. The theme of Edwards's address was the divide between the "two Americas", hispopulist message throughout the primary campaign and now one embraced by Kerry.[citation needed] He tied the division to his own roots inNorth Carolina, and introduced his family to the audience. Edwards addressed his parents from the podium: "You taught me the values that I carry in my heart: faith, family, responsibility, opportunity for everyone. You taught me that there's dignity and honor in a hard day's work. You taught me to always look out for our neighbors, to never look down on anybody, and treat everybody with respect."[21]Edwards went on to define the two Americas he claimed to exist, one for therich and one for thepoor, and repeated several times that "It doesn't have to be that way."[21] He called for one health care system, equal in quality to the coverage received by senators and other elected officials, and promised to establish aPatients' Bill of Rights.[21] Edwards proposed onepublic school system for all, arguing that "None of us believe that the quality of a child's education should be controlled by where they live or the affluence of their community."[21] He appealed for the end of the twoeconomies, "one for people who are set for life, they know their kids and grand-kids are going to be just fine, and then one for most Americans, people who live paycheck to paycheck."[21] Edwards also stated how the Democrats expected to pay for their agenda: "We're going to roll back – we're going to roll back the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. And we're going to close corporate loopholes. We're going to cut government contractors and wasteful spending. We can move this country forward without passing the burden to our children and our grandchildren."[21]
Many pundits noted that while Edwards'scharismatic style was in evidence, he had rushed through the speech, ending several minutes earlier than planned.[citation needed] The delegates in the FleetCenter, however, were enraptured, and Edwards led them several times in a statement-responsechant: "Hope is on the way." This, and the general upbeat tone of the address[citation needed], was a response to attacks by the Bush campaign claiming that Kerry and Edwards were pessimistic and cynical; it was altered and echoed the next day in the more detailed speech of John Kerry: "Help is on the way."
In the days before the convention started, the other candidates withdrew, freed their delegates and officially endorsed Kerry.[citation needed] All the delegates voted to ratify this decision and vote for Kerry, except those of Kucinich, who attempted to vote for Kucinich anyway. Many states refused to let them do so, and only permitted them to register abstentions.[citation needed] The final tally went thus:
| Democratic National Convention presidential vote, 2004[22] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
| John Kerry | 4,253 | 98.40% |
| Dennis Kucinich | 43 | 0.99% |
| Abstentions | 26 | 0.60% |
| Totals | 4,322 | 100.00% |
Prior to his speech, John Kerry's daughter spoke about her father. After this, a video played, showing highlights from Kerry's life, including his birth inColorado, his childhood inNew England, the travels with his diplomat father to post-World War II Germany, and his service inVietnam'sMekong Delta, interspersed with clips of Kerry speaking and narrated voice overs. After the video's conclusion, former U.S. SenatorMax Cleland delivered a speech proclaiming that the global conflict and active wars inAfghanistan andIraq required a decorated military hero such as Kerry in theWhite House. This concluded with Kerry's entrance, where he made amilitary salute and announced, "I'm John Kerry, and I'm reporting for duty!" Kerry then accepted the nomination for president.
Democrats reacted positively to John Kerry's acceptance speech.[23] With Democrats strongly opposed to the Bush administration, John Kerry spent most of his speech appealing to independent voters and to swing voters.[23] He promised to train 40,000 new active duty troops,[24] to implement all the recommendations of the9/11 Commission,[24] to cut the national deficit in half within four years,[24] to cut middle class taxes while repealing the Bush administration's tax cuts for those making more than US$200,000 per year,[24] to stopprivatization ofSocial Security,[24] and to expandstem cell research.[24]
On the day after Kerry's speech,George W. Bush's reelection campaign launched a counterattack on the claims and promises made by Kerry and others at the convention. At a campaign stop inSpringfield, Missouri, Bush told a crowd: "My opponent has good intentions, but intentions do not always translate to results", attacking Senator Kerry's record in the Senate.[25]
In addition to the Obama, Edwards, and Kerry addresses, there were also speeches from former presidentsBill Clinton andJimmy Carter, former vice-president and 2000 presidential nomineeAl Gore, New York Senator and former First LadyHillary Clinton, Massachusetts senatorTed Kennedy, former candidateAl Sharpton, and presidential advisory counsel on HIV/AIDSDenise Stokes.Ron Reagan, son of Republican presidentRonald Reagan, also spoke at the convention, blaming Bush's hijacking of his father's legacy for his switch in support to the Democrats.
Polls conducted after Kerry's speech showed no significant increase of support (or "convention bounce") for the Democratic nominee's bid to unseat President Bush.[26] Democrats ascribed the disappointing numbers to an unusually polarized electorate that year with few undecided voters, though Bush did get a small bounce out of his convention.[27]
There were a number of demonstrations during the 2004 Democratic National Convention.[28] Protesters included members of the Bl(A)ck Tea Society, a group of self-describedanarchists, who opposed the war in Iraq.[28] Approximately 400 members of the Bl(A)ck Tea Society marched through Boston's financial district and headed toward the FleetCenter, where they set fire to an effigy that showed George Bush on one side and John Kerry on the other.[28]
That evening a group ofpeace activists held a peaceful rally a few hundred feet from the FleetCenter. Local Boston politicians were joined by presidential candidateDennis Kucinich and long-time activist andCalifornia state senatorTom Hayden in a call to end the occupation of and to remove U.S. troops from Iraq and to bring in an internationalpeacekeeping force. Also, Hayden and Kucinich called on anti-war Democrats to support John Kerry against George Bush in the general election.[29]
The largest protest was held on the Sunday evening before the convention was set to start. An estimated 2,000 anti-war members marched at the same time as approximately 1,000 anti-abortion activists, and the two groups crossed paths en route to the convention center.[28] The following day, this anti-abortion group had its permit revoked to protest outside of the Kerry family home. They challenged the decision, but it was upheld by a federal judge, who sided with the Secret Service in determining that the protest would be too close to Kerry's home, potentially endangering the presidential candidate.[28][30]
| Preceded by 2000 Los Angeles | Democratic National Conventions | Succeeded by 2008 Denver |
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