NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 30, 2008
Edwards Exits Presidential Race
In New Orleans, Democrat Says "It's Time For Me To Step Aside"; Does Not Make Endorsement
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Democrat John Edwards announces he is withdrawing from the presidential race in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. Edwards who announced his candidacy in New Orleans returned to the Hurricane Katrina damaged Ninth Ward to exit the race for president. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)
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John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, did not immediately endorse either candidate in what is now a two-person race for the Democratic nomination. (AP)
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Play CBS Video Video Edwards Drops Out, Protects Cause "CBS News RAW": John Edwards has suspended his campaign for the presidency, but not before protecting his fight to end poverty by receiving commitments from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
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Video John Edwards Drops Out CBS News has learned that Democrat John Edwards will leave the presidential primary race. Ramy Inocencio reports.
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Video Edwards Reacts To S.C. Loss "CBS News RAW:" Placing 3rd place in the Democratic presidential primary election, candidate John Edwards addressed his supporters and informed them that he would march onward with his campaign.
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Photo Essay John Edwards In his second presidential campaign, Edwards ran as a populist, with a focus on poverty and health.
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Interactive Campaign 2008 Profiles of the candidates, polls, fund-raising, blogs, video and more.
"We do not know who will take the final steps to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but what we do know is that our Democratic Party will make history," Edwards said in New Orleans, where he launched his campaign in late 2006. "We will be strong, we will be unified, and with our convictions and a little backbone, we will take back the White House in November."
Edwards said Clinton and Obama had both pledged that "they will make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency."
"This is the cause of my life and I now have their commitment to engage in this cause," he said before a small group of supporters. He was joined by his wife Elizabeth and his three children, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack.
It was the second time Edwards sought the Democratic presidential nomination. Four years ago he was the vice presidential running mate on a ticket headed by John Kerry.
Four years later, he waged a spirited, underfunded race on a populist note, pledging to represent the powerless against the corporate interests.
He finished second in the Iowa caucuses that led off the campaign, but he was quickly overshadowed - a white man in a race against the former first lady and a 46-year-old black man, each bent on making history.
Edwards said that on his way to making his campaign-ending statement, he drove by a highway underpass where several homeless people live. He stopped to talk, he said, and as he was leaving, one of them asked him never to forget them and their plight.
"Well I say to her and I say to all those who are struggling in this country, we will never forget you. We will fight for you. We will stand up for you," he said, pledging to continue his campaign-long effort to end what he frequently said was "two Americas," one for the powerful, the other for the rest.
The former North Carolina senator did not immediately endorse either Clinton, seeking to become the first female president, or Obama, the strongest black candidate in history.
Both of them praised Edwards - and immediately began courting his supporters.
"John Edwards ended his campaign today in the same way he started it - by standing with the people who are too often left behind and nearly always left out of our national debate," Clinton said.
Obama, too, praised Edwards and his wife. At a rally in Denver, he said the couple has "always believed deeply that two Americans can become one, and that our country can rally around this common purpose," Obama said. "So while his campaign may have ended, this cause lives on for all of us who still believe that we can achieve that dream of one America."
The impact of Edwards' decision will be felt in one week's time, when Democrats hold primaries and caucuses across 22 states, with 1,681 delegates at stake.
Four in 10 Edwards supporters said their second choice in the race is Clinton, while a quarter prefer Obama, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo poll conducted late this month.
Determining where Edwards' supporters will go, if they go to any candidate at all, will be tough, according to CBS News director of surveys Kathy Frankovic. In a post on CBSNews.com's Horserace blog, she noted that those who voted for Edwards were least likely to support one of the other top two candidates for the party's nomination.
"So Edwards might not be able to move his voters to either of the other candidates en masse," Frankovic wrote. "Some of his supporters will clearly opt not to support either Clinton or Obama."
Edwards is keeping the 26 delegates he's won in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina after suspending his campaign today.
After he officially exits, 10 of those delegates will be going to the other candidates. Barack Obama will get six and Clinton four. Under party rules, Edwards will maintain a say in naming the other 16 delegates.
Edwards had also collected endorsements from 30 superdelegates, mainly party and elected officials, who automatically attend the convention. They can support whomever they choose. Three superdelegates had already switched from Edwards to Obama before Edwards suspended his campaign.
As expected, Edwards said he was suspending his campaign rather than ending it, but aides said that was simply legal terminology so that he can continue to receive federal matching funds for his campaign donations.
An immediate impact of Edwards' withdrawal will be the six additional delegates for Obama, giving him a total of 187, and the four more for Clinton, giving her 253. A total of 2,025 delegates are needed to secure the Democratic nomination.
Edwards waged a spirited top-tier campaign against the two better-funded rivals, even as he dealt with the stunning blow of his wife's recurring cancer diagnosis. In a dramatic news conference last March, the couple announced that the breast cancer that she thought she had beaten had returned, but they would continue the campaign.
Their decision sparked a debate about family duty and public service. But Elizabeth Edwards remained a forceful advocate for her husband, and she was often surrounded at campaign events by well-wishers and emotional survivors cheering her on.
The campaign ended as it began 13 months ago - with the candidate pitching in to rebuild lives in a city still ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Edwards embraced New Orleans as a glaring symbol of what he described as a Washington that didn't hear the cries of the downtrodden.
Edwards burst out of the starting gate with a flurry of progressive policy ideas - he was the first to offer a plan for universal health care, the first to call on Congress to pull funding for the war, and he led the charge that lobbyists have too much power in Washington and need to be reigned in.
The ideas were all bold and new for Edwards personally as well, making him a different candidate than the moderate Southerner who ran in 2004 while still in his first Senate term. But the themes were eventually adopted by other Democratic presidential candidates - and even a Republican, Mitt Romney, echoed the call for an end to special interest politics in Washington.
Edwards' last primary was in his home state of South Carolina last week. He finished a poor third, wining only his home country, his victory in the 2004 race a distant memory.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- what''s funny about Hillary & Obama both talking about wanting to help the poor and working class citizen, of the two only one was elected (or lives in or near) where poor & working class citizens themselves reside! and as we all know it sure ain''t Ms Billary Clinton!!!
- Reply to this comment
- Obama supporters check out this moving video. It brings tears to my eyes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPev5sEdTjg - Reply to this comment
- Do you really want four more years of the Clintons?
I don''''t.
Posted by tibu987 at 09:54 PM : Jan 30, 2008
I think they have been unfairly treated in the press and this presidency of GWB is like a national nightmare. We need people with serious credentials. A vote for Hillary is a vote against the conservatives of this country. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by sophielhu
Your spam is also not welcome here, reported, again. - Reply to this comment
- "This is what the snake said, as he slithered away: "You knew what I was, when you picked me up" good luck Hilary supporters......LOL" Posted by b-easy63
The funniest part of this joke is that it applies to all of the candidates on both "sides" of the spectrum. - Reply to this comment
- Take it somewhere else, you need to come to the realization that this spam is not welcome here.
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- John Edwards is a good man, a very intelligent man and one who is not afraid of the powers that be. I do hope that whomever wins will use him for Attorney General or even V.P. He''d be a good one.
- Reply to this comment
- Well, on the other hand, if Hillary would end up with the Democratic nomination, this dog and pony show might help her then. Who the heck knows what is going to help you or hurt you in politics. The littlest things, like Howard Dean''''''''s yell, can derail you, and the biggest things, like Jennefer Flowers, and no one pays any attention.
Politics is not for sissies!! :o)
Posted by kansas1946 at 08:35 PM : Jan 30, 2008
One other good thing about Hilary''''s "stunt" if she gets the nomination then turns around and ***** her Dems supporters in order to appeal to or court the Republicans--it is not as if she is not being consistent and they should have seen it coming.
Just like the neo cons who now bleat they were hoodwinked by Bush--Dems who blindly follow this person will be shown the same amount of sympathy. There was once a pilgrim marching up a mt, who crossed the path of a venomous snake. The snake asked for the pilgrim to take him to the top of the mt. The man said No, because the snake was poisonous. The pleading and refusal went back and forth, but finally the man picked the snake up and carried him up the mt. When they got to the top, the snake bit the man and as the man lay dying he asked why the snake had done that--after all he did for the snake.
This is what the snake said, as he slithered away: "You knew what I was, when you picked me up" good luck Hilary supporters......LOL - Reply to this comment
- Posted by herpeslove
Take it somewhere else, you need to come to the realization that this spam is not welcome here.
Reported again. - Reply to this comment
- Edwards is proving to be a true politician, he doesn''t wish to endorse Mrs. Clinton at this time, because he doesn''t want her to jump out to a big lead just yet, as long as Mr. Obama is breathing down her neck, she is forced to keep her "conservative" leanings somewhat concealed.
If she should open up the lead on her own, enough to make the nomination inevitable, then he will throw in with her, in effect trading his delegates for consideration as VP.
If Mr. Obama can keep it close enough to where Mr. Edward''s delegates make a difference, he will throw in with Mr. Obama, again for consideration as VP.
Smart move by Mr. Edwards, but also an ominous sign that we will be looking at four more years of the same corrupt political status quo.
Problem is that we as a country may not survive four more years of this. - Reply to this comment
- I''m still voting for John on Super Tuesday.
It''s too early to step off. The timing stinks look how McCain turned it around.
The other 2 need to grow up! - Reply to this comment
- buddhabman,,,, I second that nomination
- Reply to this comment
- Attorney General = John Edwards
- Reply to this comment
- tibu987,,,, 8 years of the Clintons would be better than one more hour of this incompetent dishonorable administration
- Reply to this comment
- Classy guy, John Edwards. Right guy, wrong time.
Do the right thing...swing your support to OBAMA! - Reply to this comment
- The only candidate that came close to at least addressing some of the major issues in America has dropped out of the race and with his departure and the naivity of the democratic party has given the republicans the white house again.
- Reply to this comment
- Do you really want four more years of the Clintons?
I don''''''''t.
Posted by tibu987 at 09:54 PM : Jan 30, 2008
Nor do I. The twenty years of the Clinton-Bush dynasty has been MORE than enough.....
Posted by formrusmcsgt
I can''t say that I want another Jimmy Carter either. Even if he''s black! - Reply to this comment
- Everyone has to check out the article %u201CWhite Voters with a Side of Hispanics%u201D on the blogzine Savage Politics. This is an awesome discussion and analysis on the current Democrat and GOP candidates and their eligibility.
www.savagepolitics.com - Reply to this comment
- Do you really want four more years of the Clintons?
I don''''t.
Posted by tibu987 at 09:54 PM : Jan 30, 2008
Nor do I. The twenty years of the Clinton-Bush dynasty has been MORE than enough..... - Reply to this comment
- Being good citizens, we voted the first day for a now non-participant.
Posted by barbaraf4 at 08:49 PM : Jan 30, 2008
You still have your vote in November, if that''s any consolation..... - Reply to this comment
