Hillary plans 21-state chat; Edwards quits

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is going national, with plans to talk to voters in 21 states at once on the eve of Super Tuesday and by urging Democrats to recognize the results from this week’s Florida vote to help the party in the general election.

Photos:Hillary campaigns through Arkansas

What was a three-person race was winnowed down to two yesterday as former Sen. John Edwards abruptly ended his bid for the White House. Neither she nor Sen. Barack Obama will get an immediate boost from Mr. Edwards, who said he won’t endorse anyone yet.

Mrs. Clinton, meanwhile, called for Democrats to cast aside party rules and reinstate the delegates from Michigan and Florida, two states where she won victories that won’t count toward earning the party nod. She said the states are crucial for a Democratic win in November, especially after Republicans campaigned there vigorously.

“I would ask Democrats to start thinking about what we need to do to win. And we need Michigan, and we need Florida,” Mrs. Clinton, of New York, told reporters.

She said that looking back in party history, “there is precedent” for seating the delegates at the nominating convention despite party rules ordering those states be punished for holding their contests too early, and added, “this is about how we’re going to win an election.”

She said the competitive Republican race in the Sunshine State allowed Republicans to spend millions and “laid the groundwork” for the general election in the key swing state.

National party officials said yesterday that there is no way the delegates will count toward the nomination contest unless state officials in Michigan and Florida petition the Democratic National Committee and then hold a new election.

Mr. Obama of Illinois yesterday suggested Mrs. Clinton is too polarizing to lead the nation and framed his bid as the future versus a Clinton past.

“When I am the nominee, the Republicans won’t be able to make this election about the past because you will have already chosen the future,” he told an overflow crowd of more than 18,000 in Denver.

But Mrs. Clinton yesterday was warmly received for a homecoming rally as she returned to the state where she served as first lady in the 1980s.

The candidates are targeting Super Tuesday states like this one with personal appearances, but Mrs. Clinton will host a “Voices Across America” national town-hall forum from New York that will be broadcast in 22 cities — two in California and one in all the other states that will vote Tuesday except Alaska.

At stops here yesterday, Mrs. Clinton kept it personal, exchanging embraces with old friends and promising voters that like her husband, she won’t forget her roots.

“Arkansas runs deep in me, and I will be there for this state no matter what it takes,” Mrs. Clinton told 4,000 voters crammed into a high school gym. “I hope that I can count on you on Tuesday.”

She beamed and pointed out longtime pals in the crowd, many who say they would do anything to return her and former President Bill Clinton to the White House.

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