Gephardt quits presidential race after Iowa defeat

10.00am

ST LOUIS - Faced with a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, United States Representative Dick Gephardt on Tuesday formally withdrew his second bid for the presidency and signalled the end to his three-decade political career.

"Today my pursuit of the presidency has reached its end. I am withdrawing as a candidate and returning to private life after a long time in the warm light of public service," the Missouri Democrat said.

Gephardt, who won just 11 per cent of Monday night's vote to Massachusetts Senator John Kerry's 38 per cent, become the third casualty in the Democratic field that narrowed to seven candidates vying to unseat President George W. Bush in November.

When Gephardt began his second presidential bid, the St Louis native said he would concentrate on the campaign and not compete for a 15th two-year term from Missouri's 3rd District, which he has represented since 1977. After Democrats lost seats in the 2002 elections, he also stepped down from his post as his party's leader in the US House of Representatives he had held since 1989.

Gephardt needed to win in the neighbouring state of Iowa to continue his candidacy, and was hoping he would be viewed as the alternative to the early front-runner, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean.

But Gephardt's Iowa strategy withered in the face of Kerry's resurgence and the surprising second-place showing of US Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who garnered 32 per cent in the Monday night voting.

The tightly contested Democratic race moved to New Hampshire, where next week's primary will be joined by retired General Wesley Clark and US Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, two candidates who did not compete in Iowa.

Gephardt won the leadoff Iowa caucuses in his 1988 bid for the nomination, but he faded in subsequent primaries and folded his campaign a few weeks later.

Gephardt again focused his resources in Iowa and was atop early polls with Dean, whose third-place finish on Monday night with 18 per cent was also a huge disappointment.

But Iowa Democrats were apparently turned off by the attacks exchanged by Gephardt and Dean, and support shifted to candidates perceived as having a better chance of beating Bush.

Gephardt was the third Democrat to drop out, following Senator Bob Graham of Florida and former Illinois Senator Carol Moseley Braun.

Gephardt, 62, could re-emerge as a vice presidential choice of the eventual nominee in view of his blue-collar Midwestern roots, where a few toss-up states might hold the key to deciding the general election.

Asked if he might be interested in the No.2 slot on the Democratic ticket, and which candidate he might endorse, Gephardt said, "I haven't thought about it."

In his farewell speech to supporters, he reiterated his opposition to trade agreements that he said were shifting American jobs overseas.

He then briefly broke down in tears while thanking his family for their support.

In his stump speeches, Gephardt pledged to create a universal health care system for Americans.

But criticism that he stood behind Bush when the Iraq war resolution was signed and the perception he was a Washington political insider may have hurt his candidacy.

To reinforce his ties to organised labour, he often referred to his father, a St Louis truck driver and a Teamster union member. But Dean siphoned off some of Gephardt's support in Iowa by securing endorsements from two important unions.

In the end, Gephardt's vaunted grass-roots army of supporters went door-to-door but could not stop the momentum of Kerry and Edwards.

- REUTERS