(Photo: CBS) Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry selected John Edwards to be his running mate on July 6, 2004, calling the rookie senator a man who showed "guts and determination and political skills" in his unsuccessful race against Kerry for the party's nomination. Edwards, whose Southern charm and oratorical flair transformed the Democratic presidential contest, was Kerry's last major rival in the primaries. After being clobbered by Kerry in the 10 Super Tuesday contests, he decided to throw in the towel on March 3, 2004. A relative political neophyte, he was first elected to represent North Carolina in the U.S. Senate in 1998. The campaign was his first foray into politics after a wildly lucrative career as a trial attorney representing plaintiffs in product liability and medical malpractice cases. Edwards' net worth has been estimated at nearly $14 million. His broad smile, Southern charm and message of "two Americas" - one for the privileged, the other for everyone else - helped gain support for a campaign that generally stayed away from attacking other Democrats, except to say their experience in Washington was actually a detriment. Edwards' upbringing was a central theme to his populist message. He announced his candidacy Sept. 16, 2003, in front of the empty textile mill in Robbins, N.C., where his father had been employed for 36 years and where Edwards himself had earned money for college by sweeping floors and working as a night watchman. He scored a surprisingly strong second-place finish in Iowa, won the South Carolina primary, and achieved close second-place finishes in Wisconsin and Georgia. While in law school at the University of North Carolina, Edwards met his wife, Elizabeth. The couple has two daughters - Cate, 20 and Emma Claire, 4 – and one son, Jack, 2. The couple's 16-year-old son, Wade, was killed in a 1996 automobile accident.