John Edwards Withdraws From the Democratic Race

Posted by Jason Easley on 01.30.2008

Lagging in the polls, and low on cash, John Edwards decides to suspend his presidential campaign.

After not being able to win his home state of South Carolina, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards decided to drop out of the race for his party's nomination. Edwards won South Carolina in 2004 with 45% of the vote, however this year; he finished a distant third behind Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The centerpiece of Edwards's campaign was the cause of battling poverty. Today Edwards said that Clinton and Obama have both pledged to fight against poverty. Edwards said of Clinton and Obama,"They will make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency."

Presidential candidate or not, Edwards pledged to continue battling to end poverty. "This is the cause of my life and I now have their commitment to engage in this cause," Edwards said. The problem for Edwards in 2008 was that he chose to run in the same year as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. No matter what he did, he was always the white male in the race. It didn't seem to matter that Edwards was actually a better candidate this time than four years ago. In a year of rock stars, Democratic voters never moved in mass towards Edwards. Unlike the optimistic campaign that he ran in 2004, the tone of Edwards 2008 was much darker and angrier. Edwards was the angry populist who was calling for a return to more liberal positions in the Democratic Party.

On the surface, it would appear that the departure of Edwards helps Obama, but polling has shown that 40% of Edwards's supporters favor Hillary Clinton as their second choice. The base of support for Edwards was white male voters. This is a demographic that Obama has trouble capturing, and one that is very likely to gravitate to Clinton. An endorsement from Edwards would be huge for Obama, because it would represent a consolidation of the anti-Clinton forces. However if Edwards is going to endorse Obama, he needs to do it before Super Tuesday. Clinton is looking poised to take control of the Democratic race on Tuesday. The longer Edwards remains silent, the more it helps Clinton.

I don't think that anyone should be surprised if Edwards turns up in the cabinet of the next Democratic administration. His rhetoric about fighting for people makes him sound like a fine choice for attorney general. I think history will remember Edwards in 2008 as the right candidate who ran at the wrong time. In a different year Edwards could have been the nominee, but American political history is filled with candidates who the time was never quite right for. Edwards has nothing to be ashamed of. He ran a good campaign, but 2008 wasn't his year.