Edwards ends presidential campaign in La.

NEW ORLEANS – Democrat John Edwards bowed out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination on Wednesday, saying it was time to step aside “so that history can blaze its path” in a campaign now left to Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.\n“With our convictions and a little backbone we will take back the White House in November,” said Edwards, ending his second campaign in a hurricane-ravaged section of New Orleans where he began it more than a year ago.\nEdwards said Clinton and Obama had both pledged that “they will make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency.”\n“This is the cause of my life and I now have their commitment to engage in this cause,” he said before a small group of supporters. He was joined by his wife Elizabeth and his three children, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack.\nIt was the second time Edwards sought the Democratic presidential nomination. Four years ago he was the vice presidential running mate on a ticket headed by John Kerry.\nFour years later, he waged a spirited, underfunded race on a populist note, pledging to represent the powerless against the corporate interests.\nHe finished second in the Iowa caucuses that led off the campaign, but he was quickly overshadowed – a white man in a race against the former first lady and a 46-year-old black man, each bent on making history.\nEdwards said that on his way to making his campaign-ending statement, he drove by a highway underpass where several homeless people live. He stopped to talk, he said, and as he was leaving, one of them asked him never to forget them and their plight.\n“Well I say to her and I say to all those who are struggling in this country, we will never forget you. We will fight for you. We will stand up for you,” he said, pledging to continue his campaign-long effort to end what he frequently said was “two Americas,” one for the powerful, the other for the rest.\nThe former North Carolina senator did not immediately endorse either Clinton, seeking to become the first female president, or Obama, the strongest black candidate in history.\nThe impact of Edwards’ decision will be felt in one week’s time, when Democrats hold primaries and caucuses across 22 states, with 1,681 delegates at stake.\nFour in 10 Edwards supporters said their second choice in the race is Clinton, while a quarter prefer Obama, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo poll conducted late this month.\nEdwards amassed 56 national convention delegates, most of whom will be free to support either Obama or Clinton.\nAs expected, Edwards said he was suspending his campaign rather than ending it, but aides said that was simply legal terminology so that he can continue to receive federal matching funds for his campaign donations.\nAn immediate impact of Edwards’ withdrawal will be six additional delegates for Obama, giving him a total of 187, and four more for Clinton, giving her 253. A total of 2,025 delegates are needed to secure the Democratic nomination.\nEdwards won 26 delegates in the Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina contests. Under party rules, 10 of those delegates will be automatically dispersed among Obama and Clinton, based on their vote totals in those respective contests. The remaining 16 remain pledged to Edwards, meaning his campaign will have a say in naming them.