Following John Kerry’s victory on Super Tuesday, John Edwards decided to quit the race for the White House, leaving Kerry virtually uncontested in his bid as Democratic presidential candidate.

Edwards, who will announce his decision Wednesday in his home state of North Carolina, offered praise for Kerry’s campaign.

“He’s run a strong, powerful campaign,” Edwards said. “He’s been an extraordinary advocate for causes that all of us believe in.”

Kerry won a majority of the states on Super Tuesday, the voting day which offers the most delegates for presidential candidates. In order to win the Democratic nomination, a candidate needs 2,164 delegates.

While he didn’t win the necessary amount of delegates, Kerry has the nomination locked up since he faces no major Democratic rivals. The two other candidates — Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton — have never risen above the bottom tier of national opinion polls.

Those candidates were defeated in several states by Howard Dean — who also won his home state of Vermont — despite dropping out of the race two weeks ago.

Supporters of Kerry said they believe his showing in Super Tuesday proves he’s the candidate who will unite the Democratic Party and defeat President Bush.

“His performance shows he has a lot of momentum,” said Matt Denner, senior in political science. “That momentum will carry through in November to bring us a new and better president.”

Edwards exits the race leaving a mark on the presidential campaign with his charisma and positive outlook. A one-term senator, he entered the race with mixed prospects but surprised voters with his strong second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. He followed up with a win in his home state of South Carolina, which gave him the momentum to outlast other opponents such as Wesley Clark and Howard Dean, the former party front-runner.

“He far exceeded people’s expectations,” said Beth Wilson, president of Students for Edwards. “He made people believe in the Democratic party again and showed you can run a positive campaign. When we campaigned in Iowa, everybody liked Edwards.”

Although the presidential nomination is no longer a reality, Edwards’ future isn’t bleak. Many Democratic leaders hope he’ll become Kerry’s running mate, said Robert Lowry, associate professor of political science.

“There would be tremendous support from both Edwards and Kerry supporters to get Edwards on the ticket as vice president,” he said. “Would he accept it? I don’t know anybody in the Democratic party that wouldn’t hope so.”

— The Associated Press contributed to this story.

A correction was printed to this article on March 4, 2004:

Due to reporting errors, the March 3 article “One-man race” incorrectly attributed information to Robert Lowry, associate professor political science. The information should have been attributed to James Hutter, associate professor of political science. The Daily regrets the errors.

The last quote should have been been attributed to Hutter, not Lowry