Senator John Kerry Wins Iowa Caucus - 2004-01-20

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts emerged as the main winner in the first test of a series of battles for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in the 2004 United States elections. Senator Kerry received 38% of the votes from party caucuses, while Senator John Edwards from North Carolina came in second with 32%. In his victory speech, Senator Kerry addressed his supporters regarding President Bush, who he would face in 2004, saying, 'If George Bush wants to make national security the central issue of the presidential election, I say to him in his own words, 'This is the ball and this is the field.' The third place in this election went to Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, who expressed disappointment with the results, as many had considered him a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in recent months. However, the greatest disappointment was for Missouri Representative Richard Gephardt, who finished a distant fourth, a result vastly different from his performance in the party caucuses in 1988. He announced that he would withdraw from the race. The next stage for selecting the Democratic candidate will be in New Hampshire.