Democrashield.com

CNN reports:

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is dropping out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, CNN has learned.

The former senator has told top advisors about his decision. It is expected he will announce it at a speech in New Orleans, Louisiana, at 1p.m. Wednesday.

Edwards’ campaign Web site said he was to deliver an address on poverty and work on a Habitat for Humanity project in New Orleans on Wednesday.

Edwards has trailed former first lady Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the early primaries.

This was surprising–I figured that Edwards would stay in as long as he could, hoping to be a Kingmaker at the convention. It was a plausible scenario–if Clinton and Obama split the delegates while Edwards won just enough, he could have held both of them below the 50% mark and thus had a huge amount of influence in deciding who the nominee would be.

Edwards has no political office to return to, and it’s unlikely he’ll run for anything in his native North Carolina. With nothing else but his poverty center, I thought he would make the most of the Presidential race. Still, it’s hard to deny the harsh reality–Edwards only ever beat either of the two front-runners once, beating Hillary Clinton in Iowa to take second place. Ever since, he has finished third in every primary; his campaign was hoping to capture the silver in Florida, but they just couldn’t pull it off.

How will this affect the race? Good question–Edwards consistently pulls in a pretty big vote share, meaning that his support could give a big boost to either Clinton or Obama. On one hand, I always believed that Edwards and Obama both portrayed more progressive, idealistic visions than Hillary Clinton, thus appealing to the same demographic. On the other hand, I think Edwards has significant appeal among the Democratic rank-and-file, who would be more likely to back Clinton–the establishment candidate–than Obama–the underdog.

To some extent, it may depend on who Edwards endorses, if he endorses anyone–it seems likely that he would support Obama, though I wouldn’t bet on it just yet. If Edwards’ supporters were to go to Obama, they would easily put him on par with Clinton in a lot of states, turning this into a real two-way race. If his supporters were to go to Clinton, they would give her an even bigger lead, making her nearly unbeatable. Thus, Edwards’ decision could end up deciding this campaign.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the media’s shameful coverage of John Edwards–they decided a long time ago that this was a two-way race between Clinton and Obama, and Edwards often got pushed to the side. The media has a lot of power–they’re the prism through which Americans see their world–and they can influence a race like this through who they cover (or don’t cover). Edwards had a significant amount of support, but he rarely got the spotlight in proportion to his support; the media did not cover the candidates fairly, and that hurt the Edwards campaign.

Personally, I’m sad to see Edwards go. I think he had a great message, and he focused on some extremely important issues that were typically neglected. John Edwards spoke for a lot of people who typically had no voice, and his presence in this campaign will be sorely missed. He injected a healthy amount of populism and progressivism into the Presidential race–both elements that Clinton and Obama have picked up on and since used. He ditched his sunny-but-empty approach from 2004 and took a grittier, more determined, more effective style of campaigning, which made him a stronger and more compelling candidate.

So go with God, John Edwards. You told us some inconvenient truths and you gave hope to millions of people. Keep fighting the good fight–our country and our party needs good people like you.

UPDATE: Here’s Obama on Edwards’ departure:

John Edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when it wasn’t popular to do or covered in the news. At a time when our politics is too focused on who’s up and who’s down, he made a nation focus again on who matters – the New Orleans child without a home, the West Virginia miner without a job, the families who live in that other America that is not seen or heard or talked about by our leaders in Washington.

John and Elizabeth Edwards have always believed deeply that we can change this – that two Americans can become one, and that our country can rally around this common purpose. So while his campaign may end today, the cause of their lives endures for all of us who still believe that we can achieve that dream of one America.

And here’s Clinton:

Well, Sen. Edwards is a friend of mine, he was a colleague in the Senate, and I have the highest regard for him, and I’m really admiring of what he has done to make sure that poverty was on the agenda here in America. He encouraged all of us in his passion and advocacy, and I hope he will continue that work because it is really important that we stay focused on what we’re going to do to help people.

You know, I’m out here talking about making the economy work for everybody. And it needs to work for the middle class, working people, it needs to give a life line to poor people like we did in the 1990s, so in any way that I can be part of this effort to try to target poverty I am going to be.

They’re both pulling hard for Edwards’ endorsement–and with the economy as bad as it is, both of them will have ample opportunities to prove their mettle on economics and poverty.