John Edwards drops out of US presidential race

January 30, 2008 Former United States Senator John Edwards announced today that he is quitting the United States presidential election. Edwards made this announcement during a speech in New Orleans, Louisiana, that was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. EST (UTC-5) today.

This decision comes after Edwards lost his home state of South Carolina to Barack Obama.

"Today, I am suspending my campaign for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency," Edwards said.

"Now, I've spoken to both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. They have both pledged to me and more importantly through me to America, that they will make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency," he continued.