His Charm and Upbeat Message Unified Democrats

John Edwards’ 13-month campaign for the presidency transformed him from a virtual unknown into a Democratic Party star who many believe will run for the White House again.

The one-term North Carolina senator and former trial lawyer bucked convention with a sunny campaign style that helped the Democrats remain uncharacteristically unified during the primary season.

Many rank-and-file Democrats and party elders hope that John F. Kerry rewards Edwards by picking him as his running mate -- the veteran New England politician balancing his ticket with a younger Southerner.

Kerry, the four-term senator from Massachusetts, has kept his list of potential picks hidden, and it was unclear whether Edwards would accept an overture if it came.

But Kerry had ample praise for his rival after Tuesday night’s results became clear: “He brings a compelling voice to our party -- great eloquence to the cause of working men and women and great promise for leadership for the years to come.”

If former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean infused the Democrats with fighting spirit, it was Edwards who received the most credit for maintaining the primary season’s collegial tone. He also received plaudits for his charismatic style -- grinning like a schoolboy and insisting that America’s best days were yet to come.

Others who went on the attack -- notably Dean and Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri -- fell by the wayside, while voters praised Edwards’ positive approach and rhetorical flair.

That approach is credited with unifying the Democrats going into the fall campaign -- a notable contrast to past elections, when the party’s candidates sliced each other up so badly that they had to repair the damage before confronting the Republican nominee.

Edwards, 50, made another strategic decision early on: to define himself as a champion for the poor and the middle class. His “son of a millworker” biography became as familiar a refrain on the campaign trail as his call for an end to “two Americas” -- a nation he described as riven by race and class.

That formula pushed him to a strong second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and a victory in his native South Carolina, but was not enough to persuade Democrats that he should lead the party into the fall election.

“It caught up with him,” said Merle Black, a political analyst at Emory University in Atlanta. “He failed to draw contrasts with Kerry until that last debate. Because he was the challenger, he needed to give voters a reason to skip over Kerry and vote for him. In that sense, he failed to make it a two-person race early enough.”

A key moment: Spending valuable January days to cement a win in South Carolina instead of making at least one more stop in Oklahoma, which might have given him that state and sent former Gen. Wesley K. Clark home before the Tennessee and Virginia primaries.

As it was, Edwards brought to the race “fresh ideas, charisma, toughness and a reminder that Democrats should compete and fight in all parts of the country,” said David Wade, Kerry’s press secretary.

Edwards showed that he could energize a crowd with rhetoric, humor and “an ability to relate to what people are concerned about,” said Bruce Newman, editor of the Journal of Political Marketing and a professor at Chicago’s DePaul University.

By dropping out now, allowing the party to coalesce behind Kerry, he is well-positioned for the future, Newman said.

Edwards’ biggest challenge will be to maintain a national profile after giving up his seat in the Senate. He is not running for a second term, and could be out of work by early next year.

A few other politicians have managed to keep their place on the national stage after a failed presidential bid.

Ronald Reagan built the most successful campaign from outside elected office. After losing the Republican nomination in 1976, the former California governor founded Citizens for the Republic, a political action committee with a mailing list of more than 100,000 people and a $4.5-million war chest that went to 400 Republican candidates nationwide.

Reagan kept in the public eye through a syndicated newspaper column and radio broadcasts, as well as speaking engagements.

Bill Bradley had a less successful run-up to the 2000 Democratic nomination fight. He lectured and led conferences on healthcare, children, foreign policy and other topics at universities, but his turn as a CBS news commentator ended after a year.

On Tuesday, Edwards traveled to downtown Atlanta to watch election results with his wife, Elizabeth, and daughter Cate. When the outcome became clear, he spoke to supporters at a local convention center.

He congratulated Kerry on another string of victories and promised that a Democrat would retake the White House in the fall.

“Our campaign has never been about the politics of cynicism. It’s about the politics of hope,” Edwards told cheering supporters.

“It’s about the politics of what’s possible. And I’m proud of the fact that you and I together have brought these issues back to the American debate: race, equality, civil rights, poverty. All of these issues the American people care deeply about. We have touched their souls again -- they feel these issues.”

Edwards had said all along that he planned to build name recognition and support in early primaries while other candidates slugged it out, and to stay alive until the race narrowed to two contenders -- a front-runner and himself.

That scenario came to pass when Dean dropped out after the Wisconsin primary Feb. 17. But Edwards had run low on money for TV advertisements, and distinctions drawn between him and Kerry did not stick.

His failure to win any states on Super Tuesday -- even Georgia, in his “backyard” in the South -- made it clear that he couldn’t catch Kerry, winner of 27 of 30 contests.

Edwards started the day in Atlanta, greeting supporters at a polling site, then flew to Washington to cast a series of votes in the Senate in favor of an assault weapons ban.

After he returned to Atlanta, he spoke to supporters, who responded to his remarks with resignation and sadness.

“I’m disappointed,” said Sandra Stimpson, 56, a union business agent. “He could have brought us together as a nation. The leadership we’ve got, they’ve forgotten about the little people.”

Despite a growing sense of inevitability, Edwards’ aides in the last few days kept up a veneer of optimism, and Edwards himself insisted there was still plenty of fight in him -- with plenty of delegates still to be won.

But the clock was ticking. In what turned out to be Edwards’ final campaign appearance, he turned to the warm embrace of the South on Monday night to share a stage with the band Hootie and the Blowfish in Macon, Ga.

More than 500 people were on hand, younger people crowding in front as older supporters covered their ears against the amplified music.

It was the best event of the day for the senator. But it also carried the hint of omen. As Edwards’ entourage arrived, the band struck up “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” a country-gospel song about the inevitability of things coming to an end.

Times staff writer Maria L. La Ganga contributed to this report.