Edwards Exits Race

And then there were two. John Edwards dropped out of the presidential race today, leaving senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to battle for the Democratic nomination – and a place in the history books. “It is time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path,” Edwards said of his former rivals, one poised to be the party’s first female nominee and the other its first African American candidate.

His exit, announced in New Orleans, came days after his disappointing defeat in his native South Carolina. Edwards, a former North Carolina senator who ran a populist campaign decrying the “two Americas” of the rich and poor, failed to capture any of the statewide contests held thus far, finishing behind his better-known rivals in all but the Iowa caucuses, where he edged out Clinton. His decision to withdraw clears the way for a head-to-head contest between the frontrunners February 5, Super Tuesday, when 22 states vote.

Unlike Senator Edward Kennedy, who along with his niece Caroline Kennedy, endorsed Obama earlier in the week, Edwards did not endorse Obama or Clinton. Edwards’ 56 delegates could prove important at the convention, however, because the race between Clinton and Obama has tightened in recent weeks.

Edwards made his announcement in the same hurricane-devastated neighborhood where he launched his campaign a year ago. Standing outside a Habitat for Humanity building site with his wife, Elizabeth, and three children, he said he had been buoyed in recent days by others who shared his concern for the “working poor.” Edwards often linked his own personal story with the difficulties of the country’s working class. The son of a small town mill worker, he became a millionaire trial lawyer. He and his wife often spoke of the impact of the 1996 death of his teenage son, Wade, on their lives with Edwards saying the tragedy had spurred him to enter public service. Elizabeth Edwards campaigned vigorously for her husband despite learning last March that her breast cancer that was thought to be in remission had returned in an incurable form.