The 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry, the long-time U.S. Senator from Massachusetts who would eventually become the 68th U.S. Secretary of State eight years later, began when he formed an exploratory committee on December 1, 2002. On September 2, 2003, he formally announced his candidacy for Democratic Party nomination. After beating running mate John Edwards, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, and other candidates in the primaries, he became the Democratic nominee, with his challenger being Republican incumbent President George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. Kerry conceded defeat in the race in a telephone call to Bush at around 11 a.m. EST (16:00 UTC) on the morning of November 3, 2004.