South Carolina Unkind to Edwards: He Spent a Lot of Time and Money in His Native State, but Voters T

Jan 27, 07:01 AM

Jan. 27--COLUMBIA, S.C. -- John Edwards did not get the home cooking he hoped for Saturday, finishing a distant third in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary.

The showing was another disappointment for Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, who carried his native state four years ago in his first White House bid. But this time, Edwards could not overcome two better-financed and more famous rivals who both are making historic runs: Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Edwards received 18 percent of the vote, compared with 55 percent for Obama and 27 percent for Clinton.

Edwards vowed to supporters that he would continue his campaign into Super Tuesday on Feb. 5 when 22 states hold their primaries.

Edwards, 54, a former Raleigh lawyer, said his campaign would give voice to those who need health care, who are jobless, who are hungry and who are struggling to pay college bills.

"Now the three of us move forward to February 5 where millions of Americans will cast their ballots and help shape the future of America," Edwards told several hundred supporters jammed into Jillian's, a sports bar in downtown Columbia.

Campaign strategists said Edwards had enough money -- $3 million from the Internet alone this month -- to keep going. The Edwards strategy is to hope that either Clinton or Obama implodes during a long fight between now and the Democratic convention in August.

Barring that, he wants to stay in the race long enough to be a power broker or to at least influence the debate.

"There is a lot of energy out there," said Joe Trippi, Edwards' chief strategist. "There are a lot of people who we are the voice for."

Message didn't play

Edwards ran a vigorous campaign in South Carolina, spending heavily on TV, moving staff there from across the country and criss-crossing the state in his campaign bus.

His plea to South Carolina voters was that he was one of them -- that he had spent the first 10 years of his life there, and that he understood the plight of mill workers who lost their jobs and the struggles of people who can't afford health insurance.

His campaign swings were as Southern as sweet tea, with talk of Friday night football games and church three times a week. Accompanied by bluegrass artist Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, Edwards ended each appearance with a joining of hands and the singing of the hymn "Amazing Grace."

But in the end, voters preferred senators from Illinois and New York.

Interviews with voters suggested that while although Democrats agreed with Edwards' views, he had a difficult time overcoming the perception that the primary had become an Obama-Clinton race with him as a third wheel.

"I like [Edwards] the best," said Emilee Mcabee, 37, a teacher from Columbia who voted for Clinton. "But I don't think he can win."

Another Clinton voter was Tracy Seiler, 43, a Latin teacher from Columbia who asked a reporter to watch her Corgi while she went inside to vote.

"Edwards -- I like him," Seiler said. "But to be honest, I don't think he has a chance of winning, and nobody else does either."

Edwards did better among white men, a group that he won, according to exit polls. His crowds tended to be dominated by middle-age and elderly whites, many of whom had seen the state's once- huge textile economy nearly wiped out.

He won over people such as Bob Connolly, 70, a former textile plant owner from York.

"He's for the working people of the country," Connolly said. "If I voted for Hillary or Obama, we'd have the same thing we have now. I think John Edwards is the only one who would stand up to the big corporations."

Edwards portrayed Clinton and Obama -- who had traded personal charges in a debate Monday -- as feuding politicians who were more interested in personal attacks than in solving South Carolina's problems. The exit polls suggest that Edwards didn't get much mileage from that.

But it hit home for Nancy Floyd, 41, a university statistician from Columbia. She voted for Edwards even though she had two out-of-town Obama volunteers and one Clinton volunteer as house guests.

"I liked him from the beginning," Floyd said. "He talks about poverty. He is the only guy who does.

"If he had been running with the usual field of losers, he would have come out on top," she said.

Edwards had difficulty breaking through to the state's African-American voters, who compose about half of the primary electorate. For them, the choice was between Obama, the first major African-American candidate, and Clinton, whose husband, the former president, was well-regarded in the black community.

Tameika Isaac Devine, Columbia's mayor pro tempore, backed Edwards in 2004 but didn't give him any serious thought this time. She ended up voting for Obama, seeing him as a unifier.

Edwards' political persona had changed from the sunny optimist of 2004, to the angrier -- he prefers passionate -- populist of 2008. That turned off some voters.

Chip Stubbs, 38, a business consultant from Columbia, said he backed Clinton over Edwards because she had more experience. He said he never considered Edwards.

"Edwards is just an angry little man," Stubbs said. "He had his opportunity in 2004."

Matthew Butler, 24, an insurance adjuster from Columbia, is backing Obama.

"He [Edwards] started going too radical, too populist for me," Butler said. "But I do support a lot of his ideas. He has been a major influence on Clinton and Obama."

rob.christensen@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4532

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