Despite Core Democratic Ideas, Edwards Failed to Get Votes

There was a moment in the last Democratic candidates' debate two weeks ago when John Edwards' fate seemed clear.

Barack Obama was talking about the extraordinary interest in the contest. "There's no doubt [of] that in a race where you've got an African-American, and a woman" - he hesitated for a second - "and John".

Edwards, conscious that the cameras were on him, struggled to smile, but there was no missing his pain at being the perpetual afterthought in the Democratic race.

He had been campaigning for president for at least five years - far longer than Clinton or Obama - and he entered this election season with much promise.

But he failed to broaden his appeal beyond a core of white working class and older supporters who responded to his anti-poverty message.

He fell well behind in fund raising and, as he often complained, he was overlooked by a media that was consumed with the idea of a race between two celebrity candidates in Obama and Clinton.

To borrow one of Edwards' catchphrases from a past campaign, "it doesn't have to be that way".

Edwards entered the race before Obama or Clinton in December 2006, making his announcement in New Orleans where he had been clearing rubbish from a home that had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

He had several clear advantages. He had name recognition as the vice-presidential candidate to John Kerry in the 2004 election, and he was remembered fondly by many Democrats for a sunny, upbeat personality.

The photographs of jeans-clad Edwards amid the debris of New Orleans gave him a clear message: a street fighter in the war on poverty.

He was the first to offer a plan for universal health care, forcing Obama and Clinton to catch up. He led the call on Congress to stop funding the Iraq war, and the campaign against corporate lobbyists in Washington.

His personal story was compelling: Edwards had a rags to riches rise from the son of a mill worker to multi-millionaire trial lawyer and senator.

But there was tragedy too with the death of a teenage son in a car crash. In March last year, his wife, Elizabeth, announced her cancer had returned and was inoperable.

After his defeat in the 2004 elections, Edwards returned to his native North Carolina and founded an anti-poverty center.

He began working with hotel unions - which he calculated would be important in the Nevada caucuses - and made repeated visits to Iowa where he had come second in the 2004 primary.

In late 2005, he repudiated his vote in the Senate for the Iraq war as a mistake.

Yet the version of Edwards who campaigned across Iowa in his blue Main Street Express was harder edged than the sunny optimist of 2004. The inspirational message had turned into angry broadsides against corporate interests that turned off more moderate voters.

Edwards retained support in rural areas and among working class voters, but could not broaden his base in Iowa.

Though he was the most leftwing on the economic issues of the major candidates, the liberal wing of the Democratic party was captivated by the idea of Obama's candidacy.

Despite a strong early lead, Edwards barely managed to hang on to second place in Iowa, edging out Clinton by less than a percentage point. He came in third in New Hampshire.

By the Nevada caucuses, when Edwards won less than 4% of the vote despite his long relationship with the unions, campaign officials all but conceded he could not win the nomination outright.

Instead, Edwards predicated his campaign on winning enough delegates to become a kingmaker at the convention, emerging as a consensus candidate in a deadlocked race.

His campaign also tried to press a claim - that was never said directly - that as a white male Edwards was more electable than Clinton or Obama.

However, that claim became unsustainable when Edwards once again came a distant third in South Carolina - the state in which he was born and where he won in the 2004 Democratic primary.

Although Edwards flew on to a rally in Oklahoma, and the campaign aired ads in ten Super Tuesday states, it was becoming clear a succession of third place finishes would not work. With only 64 delegates so far, he had a mountain to climb before coming close to the 2,205 needed for the nomination.

"To win the nomination, I've got to win a contest, of course," Edwards told reporters after South Carolina. But that didn't happen.