Edwards Urges Remaining Candidates to Keep Debate on Poverty Alive

COLUMBIA, S.C. _ South Carolina native John Edwards dropped his bid Wednesday to become the 2008 Democratic nominee for president, imploring the remaining candidates to keep his central cause _ poverty _ a primary issue in the race.

The Seneca, S.C., native and former U.S. senator from North Carolina, who finished third in South Carolina’s Democratic primary Saturday, did not endorse either rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois or Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.

“I’m not sure he will endorse anybody anytime soon,” said Rep. Leon Howard, D-S.C., one of Edwards’ longest-standing S.C. supporters.

Edwards, who won South Carolina’s 2004 Democratic presidential primary, had hoped he could salvage his campaign here. Edwards spent more money _ $330,684 _ than any other Democrat in South Carolina, according to the latest federal reports. But he placed third in polling throughout the year and managed to win only one county in last Saturday’s S.C. primary.

With Edwards out, Obama and Clinton will meet Thursday onstage in California in their first debate since their raucous face-off in Myrtle Beach last week.

Observers say Edwards’ absence in the campaign’s dialogue is at least one way he will be missed for the remainder of the 2008 campaign.

“It could be kind of raw,” said Blease Graham, a USC political science professor and scholar of South Carolina politics.

“Whatever balance Edwards was able to provide, given the tenor of the campaign that developed in South Carolina, someone will have to step in informally, or he will have to step in informally, (to keep them on track),” Graham said.

Edwards, who got in the 2008 race just more than a year ago, announced the end of his campaign in New Orleans, with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children.

“It’s time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path,” he told a couple of hundred supporters in one of New Orleans’ Katrina-ravaged inner-city districts.

Elizabeth Edwards, who is fighting a recurrence of cancer, was not seen on the S.C. campaign trail since Edwards returned here after the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary.

In his second consecutive, unsuccessful campaign for the White House, Edwards was credited with making poverty, the hardships of the working poor and the financial anxiety facing the middle class issues at least among Democrats.

Both Obama and Clinton issued statements praising Edwards’ campaign and his stances on economic issues involving the poor.

“Economic justice is our cause,” said Edwards, who noted Obama and Clinton pledged to make ending poverty a central theme in their campaigns.

Edwards, who leaves the race with 56 Democratic delegates, had failed to win in any of the first four major presidential contests, finishing second in Iowa and achieving distant third-place finishes in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Some questioned Edwards’ timing in exiting the race before the Feb. 5 primaries, but not Howard.

“He wasn’t doing as well as the other candidates in those other states,” Howard said, and Edwards did not want to be a “spoiler,” or cause the other Democrats to spend unnecessary funds in the Feb. 5 states.

“I think he achieved a lot of his goals and we still have two great candidates,” Howard said.

Columbia Mayor Bob Coble agreed. “It’s sad he dropped out. I thought he would make a great president, and I hope he will have a role in the next administration.”

USC’s Graham said the fact that Edwards got out without making an endorsement means there were no back-room deals involved that could benefit his former rivals.

“It’s going to be a challenge to both candidates,” Graham said, adding the appeal of Edwards’ blue-collar campaign message likely would help Clinton.

John Moylan, Edwards’ S.C. campaign manager, who was with him in New Orleans, said Edwards “did the right thing” by getting out now.

“He ended this the same way he started it, by putting the focus on the people,” Moylan said. “This is about people, not about politics. It’s bigger than that.”

Larry Sabato, political science professor at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, wasn’t so sure.

“It’s a recognition of reality. He wasn’t going anywhere.”

Sabato said Edwards’ supporters won’t move en masse to any one candidate. He said Edwards’ 56 delegates would be valuable only if there were “an incredibly close split” between Clinton and Obama for delegates.

And he said the only impact an Edwards endorsement might have is if it came the night before the Feb. 5 primaries.

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(c) 2008, The State (Columbia, S.C.).

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