Democrat Edwards ends presidential bid

By The Associated Press , Bloomberg News

Photo by Associated Press

Democratic presidential hopeful former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., speaks at a campaign event in this Jan. 2008 file photo.

ADVERSTISMENT

DENVER — Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voters' sympathies, The Associated Press has learned.

John Edwards quit the Democratic presidential race, saying that while the campaign would end, his efforts on behalf of "economic justice" would continue.

"It is time for me to step aside," he said in New Orleans, where he started his presidential bid more than a year ago.

The decision came after Edwards lost the four states to hold nominating contests so far to rivals who stole the spotlight from the beginning - Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

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The former North Carolina senator will not immediately endorse either candidate in what is now a two-person race for the Democratic nomination, said one adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the announcement.

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.

Edwards planned to announce his campaign was ending with his wife and three children at his side. Then he planned to work with Habitat for Humanity at the volunteer-fueled rebuilding project Musicians' Village, the adviser said.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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