Jimmy Carter Walter Mondale From February 20 to June 12, 1984, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1984 United States presidential election.

Alan Cranston, Gillis William Long, and Walter Mondale supported giving elected officials positions as uncommitted delegates while Ted Kennedy opposed it.

[30] Colorado Senator Gary Hart was little-known when he announced his run February 1983, and barely received above 1% in the polls compared to other well-known figures.

To counter this, Hart started campaigning early in New Hampshire, making a then-unprecedented canvassing tour in late September, months before the primary.

This strategy attracted national media attention to his campaign, and by late 1983, he had risen moderately in the polls to the middle of the field, mostly at the expense of the sinking candidacies of John Glenn and Cranston.

However, Hart could not overcome Mondale's financial and organizational advantages, especially among labor union leaders in the Midwest and industrial Northeast.

At a roundtable debate between the three remaining Democratic candidates moderated by Phil Donahue, Mondale and Hart got in such a heated argument over the issue of U.S. policy in Central America that Jackson had to tap his water glass on the table to get them to simmer down.

Jackson's campaign was bolstered after he led a delegation to Syria that convinced Hafez al-Assad to release Bobby Goodman in January 1984.

[45][46] Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Illinois held their contests with a total of 510 delegates on March 13 as a part of Super Tuesday.

[47] Hollings was expected to win South Carolina as a favorite son candidate, but withdrew before the state held its caucus.

[48] On March 31, the Kentucky precinct caucuses elected a plurality uncommitted delegation supported by Martha Layne Collins.

[53] Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, and Ohio held their contests with a total of 483 delegates on May 8 as part of Super Tuesday II.

[47] Mondale gradually pulled away from Hart in the delegate count, but the race was not decided until June, on Super Tuesday III.

[54] Decided that day were delegates from five states: South Dakota, New Mexico, West Virginia, and the big prizes of California and New Jersey.

However, Hart maintained that unpledged superdelegates that had previously claimed support for Mondale would shift to his side if he swept the Super Tuesday III primary.

However, after Mondale's landslide loss to Ronald Reagan, Hart would quickly emerge as the frontrunner for the 1988 Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Of the seven private-citizen Democratic nominees, Jimmy Carter, Grover Cleveland, and Joe Biden won their respective presidential elections.

[68] Source: Adam Clymer combined the exit polls conducted in 24 states by The New York Times, CBS, NBC, and ABC.

Although Mondale intended to expose Reagan as hypocritical and position himself as the honest candidate, the choice of taxes as a discussion point likely damaged his electoral chances.

[citation needed] Mondale chose U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York as his running mate and she was confirmed by acclamation, making her the first woman nominated for that position by a major party.

Aides later said that Mondale was determined to establish a precedent with his vice presidential candidate, considering San Francisco Mayor (Later U.S.

Nomination rival Gary Hart had also been lobbying for the vice-presidential spot on the ticket once it became apparent that Mondale had clinched the majority of delegates; Hart's supporters claimed he would do better than Mondale against President Reagan, an argument undercut by a June 1984 Gallup poll that showed both men nine points behind the President.