John Edwards
bowed out of his second presidential bid saying he hoped the
''two Americas'' he speaks of so often, one for the haves
and the other for the have-nots, could finally be
united under a Democratic president. It won't be him.
''It is time for
me to step aside so that history can blaze its path,''
the former North Carolina senator said as he ended his
candidacy Wednesday where it began 13 months earlier,
in a hurricane-damaged New Orleans neighborhood.
For Edwards, the
quest has been one of seeming contradictions and
compelling personal drama.
John Kerry's
running mate in 2004, Edwards earned millions as a trial
lawyer, lives in a 28,000-square-foot house, and is known
for famously expensive haircuts. He did consulting
work for a hedge fund that caters to the super rich to
learn about financial markets and their relationship
to poverty -- and to make money too.
Yet Edwards
focused his candidacy on ending poverty and economic
inequality.
''It is the cause
of my life,'' he said Wednesday, saying he had won
assurances from the remaining two Democratic candidates --
senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama --
that they shared his dream of ''one America that works
for everybody.''
Edwards's story
is also one of family challenges.
Until now, he had
pressed on with his campaign despite the return of his
wife Elizabeth's breast cancer. In 1996, their first-born
son, Wade, 16, died when his Jeep rolled over in a
high wind. ''We've been through the worst a couple can
go through,'' John Edwards later said.
Elizabeth Edwards
and the couple's three children -- Cate, Emma Claire,
and Jack -- joined him for his New Orleans farewell speech.
His 10-year
political career has been marked by a significant political
shift.
He ran as a
moderate Southerner for the Senate in 1998 and in his first
bid for the White House in 2004. He voted in 2002 to
authorize the invasion of Iraq and called universal
health care policies irresponsible.
This time he ran
as a liberal, voicing strong opposition to the war and
becoming the first candidate to outline a detailed universal
health care plan. He has also advocated strict
pollution reductions in emissions that contribute to
global warming.
Still
boyish-looking at 54, Edwards speaks with a Carolina twang
and is popular with audiences. But he was overshadowed
and outspent by high-profile rivals Clinton and Obama.
He failed to win
any of the early Democratic contests. While he captured
second place in the January 3 Iowa caucuses, narrowly
pushing Clinton into third place, it turned out to be
his high-water mark. His biggest disappointment came
on Saturday, when he finished a distant third in his
native South Carolina, whose primary he won in 2004.
Johnny Reid
Edwards -- the name on his birth certificate -- has lived on
both sides of the economic divide.
He was born in
Seneca, S.C., to parents who worked in a textile mill. He
spent most of his youth in rural North Carolina, working for
a while in a mill with his father. He was the first
member of his family to attend college, graduating
from North Carolina State University and then earning
a law degree at the University of North Carolina.
As an attorney in
Raleigh, N.C., he specialized in representing poor and
middle-class families against large corporations, winning
millions of dollars in judgments in personal injury
and medical malpractice cases, including $25 million
for a young girl horribly injured by a defective
swimming pool drain.
He won election
to the U.S. Senate in 1998 with a victory over incumbent
Republican senator Lauch Faircloth. Within months of his
election, Edwards put his courtroom experience to work
in helping senior Senate Democrats to map backroom
defense strategy during Bill Clinton's impeachment
trial.
Two years later
Edwards was reported to be on Democratic nominee Al
Gore's short list of running mates.
In his 2004 race
Edwards won a strong second-place finish in Iowa's
caucuses, behind Kerry but ahead of Howard Dean, who had
been widely viewed as the front-runner. But despite
strong showings in some states, he withdrew from the
race after failing to win a single contest on March
2's Super Tuesday primaries.
Since the
Democratic defeat in 2004, Edwards has worked at the One
America Committee, a political action committee he set up in
2001, and as director of an antipoverty center at the
University of North Carolina.
He was also a
paid consultant to the Wall Street investment firm Fortress
Investment Group, which has investments in lenders that
offered sub-prime mortgages and had foreclosed on
Hurricane Katrina victims. Upon learning of Fortress's
investments, Edwards last year divested himself of
investments in the group and vowed to help the homeowners.
Edwards struggled
to assert himself as the third major candidate in the
race, especially during debates marked by increasingly
pointed personal arguments between Clinton and Obama.
Edwards said he was trying to ''represent the grown-up
wing of the Democratic Party.''
He ended his
campaign without an endorsement of either Obama or Clinton,
both of whom praised him. Clinton said Edwards had run ''a
great campaign that was really important for millions
of Americans.'' And Obama said that though Edwards's
campaign had ended, his cause ''lives on for all of us
who still believe that we can achieve that dream of one
America.''
Edwards, as he
walked toward a Habitat for Humanity house he planned to
work on Wednesday, told reporters he would meet with Clinton
and Obama before deciding whether to make an
endorsement.
Jenny Backus, a
Democratic consultant who is not affiliated with any
candidate, said Edwards was ''a smart-enough politician to
know to try to make his endorsement count in a way
that furthers his cause. And I think he'd still like
to have a voice in where the party goes. He's not
retiring from the party, just from the race.''
His son had a
different take. Elizabeth Edwards said she informed Jack
about the announcement Wednesday morning.
''And he said
'So, Dad's going to be home tomorrow and the day after and
the day after,' '' she said, laughing. ''So there are some
people who are very excited about this decision.''
(Tom Raum, AP)
