Democratic presidential primary election, 2006

2006 Democratic Party presidential primaries

2002 ← January - June 2006 → 2010
4,323 delegates to the Democratic National Convention 2,162 delegates needed to win   Candidate Matthew Santos Robert Russell John Hoynes Home state Texas Colorado Texas Delegate count 1,599 1,677 956 States won 12 25 + D.C. 13 Percentage 37.0% 38.8% 22.1%
Democratic primary results map.
Previous democratic nominee Josiah Bartlet		Democratic nominee Matthew Santos

The 2006 Democratic Presidential Primaries were held to determine the Democratic Party's nominee for the 2006 Presidential Election. No candidate ended up with a majority of delegates after the primaries, leaving the nominee to be chosen at the Democratic National Convention.

Candidates

President Bartlet's two-term presidency left a lack of strong candiates to retain the White House. Early front runner Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker declined to run, giving Vice President Russell front-runner status. Leo McGarry, a prominent Democratic politician and then-counselor to Josiah Bartlet, believed, after Senator Arnold Vinick became the front-runner for the Republican Nomination, that the Democrats had no one who could beat him.

DECLARED

• Vice President Bob Russell of Colorado
• Former Vice President John Hoynes of Texas
• Congressman Matt Santos of Texas
• Senator Wendell Tripplehorn
• Senator Ricky Rafferty
• Clarkson
• Hogan
• Atkins

Iowa Caucus

AHEAD OF CAUCUS

Russell was the frontrunner with Hoynes second and the other candidates polling very low (Santos is said to be polling at 3%)

RESULTS

Vice President Robert Russell won the caucus.

New Hampshire Primary

BEFORE THE PRIMARY

• Seven candidates are on the ballot (Amy Gardner calls them the "Seven Dwarves")
• Russell and Hoynes are the only candidates to poll at over 20%
• Russell and Hoynes hit each other hard with a ton of negative ads with Russell highlighting Hoynes' pro-gun voting record when he was Senator, while Hoynes attacked Russell for being coy with the mining industry

RESULTS

Vice President Robert Russell won the New Hampshire Primary. Santos came in third with 19%.

South Carolina Primary

Former Vice President John Hoynes likely won this contest. It is likely Ricky Rafferty dropped out of the primary election after this one.

Arizona Primary

Little is known about it, apart from the fact Matt Santos won it ("A Good Day")

New Mexico Primary

Little is known about it, apart from the fact Matt Santos won it ("A Good Day")

Super Tuesday

RESULTS

Matt Santos wins California ("La Palabra")

Bob Russell wins in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont ("La Palabra")

Texas Primary

Santos won the Texas Primary. ("2162 Votes")

Florida Primary

Santos won the Florida Primary. ("2162 Votes")

Pennsylvania Primary

Santos won the Pennsylvania Primary. ("2162 Votes")

Illinois Primary

Santos won the Illinois Primary. ("2162 Votes")

New Jersey Primary

This was the last primary of the cycle. Santos won it by less than 1% over Russell ("In God We Trust")