Kerry drubs Dean in Iowa caucuses

DES MOINES, Iowa — Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, won the Iowa caucuses last night, and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina placed second in stunning surges that left putative national front-runner Howard Dean a distant third.

“Thank you, Iowa, for making me the Comeback Kerry,” Mr. Kerry said at his victory party last night.

“Not so long ago, this campaign was written off, but in your homes in Iowa, community centers, VFW posts, restaurants where you never let me stop and eat, in homes and living rooms and barns, you listened,” he said.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Kerry had 1,128 pledged delegates to the county conventions, or 38 percent, to Mr. Edwards’ 954, or 32 percent.

Mr. Dean was in third with 540 delegates, or 18 percent, Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri trailed with 315, or 11 percent, and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio had 39 delegates, 1 percent of the total.

Mr. Gephardt, who expected to win the contest, strongly implied last night that he plans to drop out of the race. He canceled plans to fly to New Hampshire today, instead calling a news conference this afternoon in his hometown of St. Louis.

“My campaign to fight for working people may be ending tonight, but our fight never ends,” Mr. Gephardt said last night.

“This didn’t come out the way we wanted, but I’ve been through tougher fights in my life. When I watched my 2-year-old son fight terminal cancer and win, it puts everything in perspective,” he said.

Mr. Edwards told supporters at his election party that his positive campaign carried him to second place, a shot at Mr. Dean, who fired up Democratic activists with strong attacks on President Bush.

“I came here a year ago with the belief that we could change this country, that the politics of hope would beat the politics of cynicism,” Mr. Edwards told his jubilant crowd. “The people of Iowa tonight confirmed that they believe in an uplifting vision to change America.”

Mr. Edwards’ campaign started to gather bigger crowds in the last couple of weeks, and he received an endorsement from the state’s largest newspaper, the Des Moines Register.

At his own exuberant postelection rally, Mr. Dean showed no sign of being disappointed, shouting and pointing to his supporters and telling them he at least got his “ticket punched to New Hampshire” and declaring repeatedly that “we will not give up.”

Traditionally, the top three candidates in Iowa are considered viable for the rest of the campaign.

“If you had told us one year ago we were going to come in third in Iowa, we would have given anything for that,” Mr. Dean said, promising to continue his campaign through the rest of the primary states. “We will not quit now or ever. We will win our country back for ordinary Americans.”

Story Continues →