Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
RALEIGH, N.C. Sen. John Edwards, the mill-town kid turned millionaire lawyer and major presidential candidate, ended his bid for the White House last month the same way he began it: with a political future as bright as the grin on his face. Edwards stepped aside in a carefully choreographed announcement at Raleigh’s Broughton High School, which his oldest son and daughter attended. He brought along all the trappings of a presidential campaign: The crowd waved his red-white-and-blue signs and roared as he entered to his campaign’s theme song, John Mellencamp’s “Small Town.” His remarks included the now-requisite references to uniting “two Americas” and eliminating the gap between rich and poor, white and minority. But this time was different. Campaign staffers listened to their boss with tears in their eyes. Edwards’ 3-year-old son, Jack, interrupted his father’s remarks when he squirmed from his mother’s arms in search of a campaign sign. And the candidate himself seemed to take a moment to reflect between bounding onto the stage and beginning his speech. He grinned and shook his head at the crowd, which filled the school gymnasium floor and an upper set of seats. “Man, it is good to be home,” he said. “I have never loved my country more than I do today.” He spoke for 13 minutes, making official the news that he was “suspending” his campaign, thanking his supporters and asking the crowd to applaud his wife, Elizabeth, and his parents. He also urged them to support Sen. John Kerry, his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, in November. “I saw what he went through in November and December, when everyone said he had no chance,” Edwards said. “He showed the strength, resolve and courage he has shown his entire life.” Edwards didn’t reflect on his own future, but signs in the crowd pushed the idea of a Kerry-Edwards ticket. Earlier in the day, he took a call from former President Clinton, who congratulated him both on his campaign and his decision to get out. Many voters liked Edwards, especially the ones who saw him up close in Iowa, Wisconsin and South Carolina. The skills that made him North Carolina’s most successful personal-injury lawyer — the easy charm, the laser-sharp focus, the ability to master complicated topics and feed them back to his listeners in layman’s terms — translated nicely to the political stage. But Edwards lost 29 of 30 races because he failed to turn that appeal into enough votes. A freshman senator, Edwards had few legislative accomplishments to boast about, so he ran more on his life story: the tale of a baby whose mill-worker father had to borrow the money to bring him home from the hospital, of a teenager who got his undergraduate degree in textile management just in case he wound up back home, of a young lawyer who spent his career seeking justice for people left broken by botched surgeries and reckless drivers.