January 31, 2008	Thursday	Muharram 21, 1429

WASHINGTON: Former senator John Edwards pulled out of the White House race on Wednesday, leaving the fight for the Democratic nomination to bitter rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

“It’s time for me to step aside so that history ... can blaze its path,” he told a rally, adding the Democratic Party would rally around the eventual nominee to take back the White House in the November presidential elections.

His decision came after Edwards suffered another trouncing in the presidential primaries when he trailed in third in the largely symbolic vote in Florida late on Tuesday.

He made his announcement in a poor section of New Orleans, still devastated by the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, accompanied by his wife Elizabeth.

Despite a shock diagnosis last year that she had incurable cancer, the couple had said they were determined to carry on in the race.

But Edwards, a multimillionaire who had championed the cause of the poor and middle class, has failed to build any momentum in his campaign after coming in second to Obama in Iowa which kicked off the 2008 presidential race.—AFP