Carter became the front-runner early on by winning the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. He used a two-prong strategy: in the South, Carter ran as a moderate and inthe North, Carter was a favorite to conservative Christian and rural voters. He had traveled over , visited 37 states, and delivered over 200 speeches before any other candidate entered the race. Carter ended up winning 30 states, with a total of 6,235,609 (39.2%) of the popular vote. He was formally nominated as the presidential Democratic nominee at the national convention, with U.S. Senator Walter Mondale from Minnesota as his running mate.