Declined To Run For Party Nomination
| Speculated candidates who decided against running | |
|---|---|
General Wesley Clark (Ret.) |
Wesley Clark, born December 23, 1944, in Illinois, from Arkansas, a Vietnam war veteran, a retired United States Army four-star general and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. He graduated first in his class from West Point. Clark is traveling widely through his Federal Leadership PAC WesPAC, and is a commentator on MSNBC, while grassroots campaigns for Clark have become active on the internet. Clark was a 2004 Presidential candidate, narrowly winning the Oklahoma primary. During a January 17, 2007, speech given to a local UAW group in Alabama and posted on YouTube, Clark stated "when I run, I'll be the national security candidate." He endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton on September 15, 2007. After her concession, Clark endorsed Senator Barack Obama. |
Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader |
Tom Daschle, born December 9, 1947, in South Dakota, former U.S. Senator from that state. He set up a new political action committee and planned a Jefferson-Jackson Day speech in the politically pivotal state of Iowa. Daschle has transferred $500,000 into the new Federal Leadership PAC, New Leadership for America. In July 2005, Daschle said he was not planning a rematch against his successor John Thune in 2010, and he told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader newspaper that he was seriously considering a run and would not "rule out the possibility of an official announcement in the near future." However, on December 2, 2006, Daschle announced he would not run for President in 2008, and threw his support behind Barack Obama.
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Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont |
Howard Dean, born November 17, 1947, in New York, former Governor of Vermont. Howard Dean is the current DNC Chairman, and was a candidate for the nomination in 2004. Dean said if he won the DNC Chairmanship he would not run for president and, since he won, has often repeated this.
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Senator Russ Feingold |
Russ Feingold, born March 2, 1953, in Wisconsin, U.S. Senator from that state. Announced to a meeting of the Tiger Bay Club of Volusia County, Florida, in January 2005 that he was considering a run for the nomination, and would decide after "going around the country" to campaign for fellow Democrats running for other offices. His Federal Leadership PAC is the Progressive Patriots Fund, which financed his travels around the country. In early March 2005, his Senate campaign registered the domain name for the website www.russfeingold08.com as well as the .org and .net versions. Later that month, he took a listening trip to Alabama. In early April 2005, Feingold announced that he would be divorcing his second wife, a move which some analysts believed could diminish his chances of winning the presidential nomination. On August 17, 2005, Feingold became the first U.S. Senator to publicly support a firm date for withdrawal from the Iraq War, suggesting December 31, 2006, as a reasonable date. Feingold's stance was generally criticized by other Democratic senators, including Biden and Clinton. In December 2005, he led the Senate campaign against the renewal of the Patriot Act; following his anti-war and bi-partisan rule of law positions in the 2006 Congressional Elections, Feingold commented that the legislative victory "pushes me in both directions," and he "could make a decision on a presidential run before the end of the year". However, on November 12, 2006, Feingold ruled out a 2008 presidential candidacy,, noting that he was willing to consider an offer from the eventual nominee for the vice presidency. He stated on February 22 that he had voted for Barack Obama in his state's primary election.
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Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States |
Al Gore, born March 31, 1948 in Washington, D.C., is the former U.S. Vice President, and was the 2000 Democratic nominee, winning the popular vote. Gore is not a declared candidate in the 2008 presidential Election. However, he has not rejected the possibility of future involvement in politics. The prospect of a Gore candidacy was thus a topic of public discussion and speculation. There were also grassroots draft campaigns. A grassroots group in New Hampshire considered a write-in campaign for the New Hampshire primary on 8 January 2008. The campaign was halted, however. Previous grassroot groups in California and New York attempted to convince him to run. There were also draft campaigns via websites.
The release of An Inconvenient Truth in 2006 increased Gore's popularity among progressives. After it was nominated for an Academy Award, Donna Brazile, Gore's campaign chairwoman from the 2000 campaign stated during a speech on January 31, 2007, at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania that, "Wait till Oscar night, I tell people: 'I'm dating. I haven't fallen in love yet. On Oscar night, if Al Gore has slimmed down 25 or 30 pounds, Lord knows.'" The meaning of these remarks became clearer when on award night, while in attendance and acting as a presenter for an award, Gore began a speech that seemed to be leading up to an announcement that he would run for president. However, background music drowned him out and he was escorted offstage, implying it was a rehearsed gag. A nationwide Gallup poll of 485 Democrats and Democratic leaners in mid-November 2007 showed Gore receiving 17% of the votes in a hypothetical Democratic primary, second to Hillary Clinton, tied with Barack Obama, and ahead of John Edwards. A previous 29 June 2007 article in The Guardian cited a poll conducted "in New Hampshire by 7News and Suffolk University" that found that if Gore "were to seek the Democratic nomination, 29% of Mrs. Clinton's backers would switch their support to him ... when defections from other candidates are factored in, the man who controversially lost to Mr. Bush in the 2000 Election takes command of the field, with 32% support." An even earlier April 2007 Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll of 504 registered Democrats in New Jersey showed Gore receiving 12% of the votes in a hypothetical Democratic primary, in third place behind Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. However, all of the polls which indicated that Al Gore would not be the leading Democratic candidate were all conducted before his Nobel Prize. The US has never had a presidential candidate who has already won a Nobel Prize. On June 16, Gore endorsed Barack Obama.
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Senator John Kerry |
John Kerry, born December 11, 1943, in Denver, Colorado, is the U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, and the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. On March 1, 2005, Kerry created a new Federal Leadership PAC named Keeping America's Promise. Dan Payne, a Democratic strategist, told the Washington Post that "This is the kind of thing he has to do" in order to run for president again in 2008. Through Keeping America's Promise, Kerry claimed to have raised or given away over $14 million to nearly 300 progressive candidates, committees or causes. Kerry told CNN, with respect to a run in 2008, "it's crazy to be thinking about it now" but went on to say that "I'll make my judgment when the time comes and I don't care what history says." However, there was a controversy on October 30, 2006, over a comment Kerry made on the war in Iraq during a speech at Pasadena City College. Kerry claimed the incident would have little bearing on 2008 and that he would make a decision in early 2007. On January 24, 2007, Kerry announced that he would not seek the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2008. Kerry and his JohnKerry.com e-mail list supported Al Gore's house parties across the United States to spread information about global warming. In a letter e-mailed from JohnKerry.com, Kerry stated: "When strong leaders like Al Gore step forward to educate and organize people around vitally important issues, they deserve our full support." Kerry then endorsed Senator Barack Obama.
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Al Sharpton |
Al Sharpton, born October 3, 1954 in New York, is a Pentecostal minister, civil rights activist, former candidate for mayor of New York and for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from New York, and candidate for the 2004 nomination. When asked about 2008, he replied, "Don't get Hillary mad at me." He was one of the first candidates to enter the 2004 race, but said nothing about 2008. His 2004 campaign was not a great success. He never got more than 10% of the vote in any state, although he did get 20% in the District of Columbia. There are still unresolved campaign-finance issues left over from that campaign. In January 2007, when asked if he was considering running in 2008, Sharpton said "I don't hear any reason not to," adding, "we'll see over the next couple of months." On April 2, 2007, Sharpton announced that he would not get into the 2008 presidential race. |
Mark Warner, former Governor of Virginia |
Mark Warner, born December 15, 1954 in Indiana, is a former Governor of Virginia. He became the Democratic candidate in the 2008 US Senate election in Virginia, and eventually won the seat. As a successful Governor from a "red state" (barred from serving consecutive terms by state law) and popular within the party, it was highly anticipated that Warner would mount a Presidential bid. In October, though Governor Warner stated that he would not seek the presidency. He then endorsed Barack Obama. He was the keynote speaker at the Democratic Convention. On November 4, Warner won the Virginia Senate election.
Read more about this topic: Democratic Party Presidential Candidates, 2008 Famous quotes containing the words declined, run, party and/or nomination:“‘Tis certain, greatness, once fallen out with fortune, ““... Estelle’s run off.” ““It is with Love as with Cuckoldom”Mthe suffering party is at least the third, but generally the last in the house who knows any thing about the matter.” “In ancient times—’twas no great loss— |