Democratic Party presidential primaries of 2012 (SIADD)

Democratic presidential primaries of 2012

← 2008		January 3, 2012 to June 5, 2012		2016 →
Nominee		Howard Dean	Hillary Clinton	Janet Napolitano
Party		Democratic	Democratic	Democratic
Home state		Vermont	New York	Arizona
States carried		41 + D.C.	7	2
Percentage		78.04%	15.36%	6.6%
Results of the 2012 Democratic Party primaries and caucuses Blue denotes a state won by Howard Dean. Yellow denotes a state won by Hillary Clinton. Orange denotes a state won by Janet Napolitano.
Democratic presidential candidate before election Barack Obama Elected Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean To Be Determined

The 2012 Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses is the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party will choose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. There are 2,778 delegates, and a candidate must accumulate 1,390 delegate votes to win. The primary elections and caucuses will culminate in the 2012 Democratic National Convention held from September 3 through September 6, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The primary contest began with a fairly wide field, and was the first presidential primary affected by a Supreme Court ruling that allowed unlimited fundraising for candidates through super PACs. Two candidates who ran in 2008, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York and former Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, and one candidate who ran in 2004, former governor and former DNC chairman Howard Dean of Vermont, also ran in 2012.

Dean took an early lead in polls with the support of much of the Democratic establishment, performing strongly in most polls and leading the field in fund-raising. However, his lead over the Democratic field has been precarious, due to the entry of Hillary Clinton, Mark Warner and Janet Napolitano. The field would split between anti-war candidates that wanted to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan (Dean and Kucinich) and those in favour of continued presence (Clinton, Warner and Napolitano).

Candidates

Candidate	Most recent office held at the end of the primaries	Pledged delegate vote estimate	Superdelegate vote estimate	Total delegate vote estimate	Campaign status
Dean, HowardHoward Dean	Former U.S. Governor, Vermont	3121 (64.67%)	610 (84.0%)	3731	Nominee Surpassed by estimation the 2,778 delegate votes needed for a majority, April 12, 2012.
Clinton, HillaryHillary Clinton	U.S. Senator, New York	1,286	90 (12.4%)	1376	Suspended, April 10, 2012. Endorsed Dean, April 12, 2012. Named VP candidate, August 21, 2012.
Napolitano, JanetJanet Napolitano	U.S. Governor Arizona	419	26 (3.6%)	445	Suspended, March 9, 2012. Endorsed Dean, May 14, 2012.
Bayh, EvanEvan Bayh	U.S. Senator, Indiana	0	0	0	Withdrew, February 8, 2012. Endorsed Dean, June 22, 2012.
Warner, MarkMark Warner	U.S. Senator, Virginia	0	0	0	Withdrew, March 2, 2012. Endorsed Dean, March 26, 2012.
Grayson, Alan/span>Alan Grayson	U.S. Representative, Florida	0	0	0	Withdrew, January 12, 2012. Endorsed Dean May 7, 2012.
Kucinich, DennisDennis Kucinich	U.S. Representative, Ohio	0	0	0	Withdrew, February 28, 2012. Endorsed Dean February 30, 2012.
O'Malley, MartinMartin O'Malley	U.S. Governor, Maryland	0	0	0	Withdrew, January 10, 2012. Endorsed Dean, March 21, 2012.

Election cycle

The beginning (2011)

Media speculation began almost immediately after the results of the 2008 presidential elections became known. In the 2010 midterm elections, the Democrats suffered a defeat in the House of Representatives while keeping the majority in the Senate. Early polls taken before anyone had announced a candidacy had shown Senator Hillary Clinton and Former Chairman of the Democratic Party Howard Dean as the most popular potential Democratic candidates. Nevertheless, the media speculated on several other candidates, including Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate in the 2008 election; former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle and Chairman of the Democratic Party Tim Kain.

Howard Dean was the first to formally announce his candidacy for the presidency, on April 23, 2011. This run would be his second attempt at the presidency. While having supported the troop surge in Afghanistan in 2009, he had by 2011 returned to his non-interventionist roots from his 2004 presidential campaign and challenged McCain on his refusal to put an arbitrary date of withdrawal from Afghanistan and his military operations in Yemen.

On May 21, 2011, Hillary Clinton joined the race on a platform similar to the one she ran on in 2008.

Early states (January to March)

%	Can show a plurality of delegates

• The numbers for delegates, states, and districts won in these tables include results from local conventions held in states which did not allocate their delegates at the precinct caucuses or primary election. These conventions were generally held on dates later than the table indicates.

Early states results
Candidates:		Evan Bayh	Hillary Clinton	Howard Dean	Dennis Kucinich	Janet Napolitano	Mark Warner	Alan Grayson	Martin O'Malley
Delegates won		0	315	395	0	95	17	0	0
States won		0	2	5	0	1	0	0	0
Jan. 3	Iowa Caucus	3%	31%	39%	2%	6%	18%	1%	0%
Jan. 10	New Hampshire Primary	5%	30%	31%	2%	4%	26%	1%	1%
Jan. 21	Nevada Caucus	4%	30%	25%	3%	35%	4%
Jan. 28	South Carolina Primary	5%	45%	32%	2%	13%	2%
Jan. 31	Florida Nonbinding primary	2%	33%	36%	4%	15%	10%
Feb. 7	Minnesota Nonbinding caucus	7%	21%	50%	3%	19%
	Missouri Primary	8%	45%	27%	11%	9%
Feb. 28	Michigan Primary		41%	43%	6%	10%

Super Tuesday (March 6)

Super Tuesday
Candidates:		Hillary Clinton	Howard Dean	Janet Napolitano
Delegates won		439	1,130	324
States won		2	9	2
Mar. 6 Super Tuesday	Arizona Caucuses	17%	40%	43%
	California Primary	16%	66%	18%
	Colorado Caucus	17%	39%	43%
	Georgia Primary	37%	36%	27%
	Massachusetts Primary	38%	52%	10%
	New Jersey Primary	18%	66%	16%
	North Carolina Primary	17%	67%	16%
	Ohio Primary	31%	58%	11%
	Oklahoma Primary	40%	37%	18%
	Tennessee Primary	35%	43%	22%
	Texas Primary	17%	65%	18%
	Virginia Primary	32%	69%	9%
	Vermont Primary	21%	65%	14%

March to April

Early states results
Candidates:		Hillary Clinton	Howard Dean
Delegates won		532	805
States won		3	8 + D.C. + DA
Mar. 13	Alabama Primary	25%	75%
	Mississippi Primary	54%	46%
	Utah Caucus	36%	64%
Mar. 20	Illinois Primary	34%	66%
Mar. 24	Louisiana Primary	35%	65%
Apr. 3	District of Columbia Primary	37%	63%
	Maryland Primary	32%	68%
	Wisconsin Primary	43%	57%
Apr. 5–10	Democrats Abroad Democrats Abroad Primary	26%	74%
Apr. 12	Connecticut Primary	36%	64%
	New York Primary	56%	44%
	Pennsylvania Primary	26%	74%
	Rhode Island Primary	63%	37%

On April 8, Dean rolled out about forty superdelegate endorsements. Those endorsements, combined with the projected number of pledged delegates Dean would win in the Pennsylvania primary, put him well over the "magic number" of 2,778 early in the evening. All major news organizations had announced that Dean had clinched the Democratic nomination and Dean claimed the status of presumptive nominee in a speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Clinton conceded the nomination later that evening, saying that the party now should focus on defeating McCain. On April 10, Clinton endorsed Dean.