John Kerry

John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts. In 2004, he made an unsuccessful bid for the United States presidency as the Democratic Party's nominee. He was defeated by incumbent President George W. Bush.

Career future

Immediately after the 2004 election, some Democrats mentioned Kerry as a possible contender for the 2008 Democratic nomination. His brother has said such a campaign is "conceivable," and Kerry himself reportedly said at a farewell party for his 2004 campaign staff, "There's always another four years", and has repeatedly responded to the question of running again by saying "I'm keeping all of my options open." Some aides, however, have stated that Kerry told campaign officials he could not envision another run. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/11/09/kerry_run_in_08_called_conceivable/. It is fairly unusual for an unsuccessful presidential candidate to receive a major political party's nomination a second time. Adlai Stevenson and Thomas Dewey were, respectively, the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956, and the Republican nominee in 1944 and 1948, but both lost twice. Republican candidate Richard Nixon, however, lost his presidential bid in 1960 and was renominated in 1968, winning the presidency. With Kerry's continued popularity, a second nomination is conceivable.

Related Topics:
Adlai Stevenson - Thomas Dewey - Richard Nixon

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Kerry's campaign fund still holds some unspent money that he raised in running for the 2004 Democratic nomination, because he was not allowed to spend it in the general election. In mid-October, 2004, this sum was about $45 million. He donated most of that to the Democratic National Committee and to state Democratic parties, but he has at least $15 million left, which could be used directly for another presidential campaign, or indirectly to build his stature within the party by helping other Democratic candidates. Some criticism was leveled at Kerry for not using the remaining funds for Democratic campaigns in 2004. He has also established a separate political action committee, Keeping America's Promise http://www.keepingamericaspromise.com/, that can raise money and channel contributions to Democratic candidates in state and federal races. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/12/05/kerry_creates_pac_to_back_candidates/

Related Topics:
Democratic National Committee - Political action committee

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Additionally, Friends of John Kerry continues to raise money and maintains the website johnkerry.com (though now with far less content and lacking the biographies of his former running mate John Edwards, and his wife Elizabeth).

Related Topics:
John Edwards - Elizabeth

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