Kerry Rolls On; Clark To Drop Out

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry added two more states to his growing list of Democratic primary wins, scoring decisive victories in Tennessee and Virginia, and knocking out one of his top rivals, retired Gen. Wesley Clark.

With two third-place finishes Tuesday, Clark was set to abandon his campaign. CBS News confirms that he will return to Little Rock, Ark., on Wednesday to announce his departure from the race.

Kerry proved his strength in the South against two Dixie-bred rivals – Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Clark of Arkansas – as he extended his dominance to every region of the country.

"It's very clear Americans are voting for change, East and West, North and now South," Kerry said to cheers from 2,000 people packed into a Fairfax County, Va., ballroom. "Thank you, Virginia and Tennessee."

Kerry has now won 12 of 14 primary and caucus contests – on the East and West coasts, in the Midwest, the Great Plains and the Southwest.

In Virginia, Kerry finished with 52 percent of the vote, followed by 27 points ahead of Edwards, and just 9 percent for Clark.

In Tennessee, Kerry had 42 percent of the vote, while Edwards edged Clark for second, 25 percent to 23.

"We're very happy with the finish," said Edwards, in an interview with CBS News Correspondent Melissa McDermott. "It's clear that the race is now narrowing to myself and Senator Kerry. We still have over 745 percent of the delegates to choose. We still have a lot of work to do."

Edwards also talked to Kerry after the results came in.

"I called him to congratulate him, he was very kind and gracious, as he always is. I said I was looking forward to the battle in Wisconsin," said Edwards. "I believe the Democratic voters want a real choice. We're now in a place where I think we're going to give them two choices - two very different choices."

Even before the votes were counted, the remaining major candidate, Howard Dean, had already retreated with his staggering campaign to Wisconsin, site of a Feb. 17 primary.

A confident Kerry now appears focused on President Bush, and not his party rivals.

"The wreckage of the Bush economy is all around us," he told supporters as some party elders said it was about time to rally behind a nominee.

"I think Democrats need to unify behind John Kerry and refocus on winning in November," said former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, who is not tied to any campaign.

Kerry's decisive victory in Virginia was driven by a broad coalition of support from traditional Democratic groups – women, African-Americans, liberal and moderate voters and union members.

Kerry won roughly 60 percent of the vote among blacks and union members, and well over half of women. He also performed well among the party's moderate and liberal wings, in contrast to Edwards, whose second-place showing came from a base of conservative voters.

Kerry's win in Tennessee came from similar quarters. He performed well among black voters and the elderly, and among minority women. In addition, he received support from military veterans. And in Tennessee, as in Virginia, Kerry's ideological base was moderates and liberals, while Edwards' was conservative Democrats.

These groups appear to be coalescing around Kerry as the best man to take the fight to President Bush in November. Voters in both Tennessee and Virginia chose beating Mr. Bush as their top candidate quality. And when asked about the two top candidates' prospects in November, should each become the nominee, Kerry was rated by nearly 9 out of 10 Virginia voters as likely to beat Mr. Bush, while Edwards was rated likely to win by a much lower six in ten.

The CBS News exit polls were conducted by Edison / Mitofsky for the National Election Pool. The Virginia poll contains 1,685 Democratic primary voters, and the Tennessee poll contains 1,920. Each survey has a margin of error of + 4 percentage points.

A total of 151 delegates were at stake Tuesday. At the start of the evening, Kerry had 462 delegates in the latest CBS News count, Dean had 219, Edwards 136 and Clark 96. Rev. Al Sharpton had 12 and Dennis Kucinich 2. It takes 2,162 to win the nomination.

The campaign now turns to Wisconsin, where Howard Dean was campaigning furiously for what had been expected to be decisive showdown on Feb. 17.

But polls showed Kerry with a huge Wisconsin lead, causing campaigns to shift strategies. Frustrating his own aides, Dean contradicted himself Monday and said he would not drop out if he lost Wisconsin.

Edwards planned to campaign two days this week in delegate-rich California, which joins nine other states for March 2 elections.

Aides said Edwards would compete in Minnesota, Ohio, Georgia, Maryland and upstate New York on March 2, and insisted he would have enough money to do so.

Kerry planned to take Wednesday and Thursday off to nurse a cough and work the phones from home in Washington.