Edwards Missing From Vermont Ballot
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Democrat John Edwards (search) will not be on the ballot for Vermont's presidential primary March 2, a costly decision for the presidential candidate.
In January, when Howard Dean (search) was still considered the front-runner, Edwards and several other candidates -- Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, Al Sharpton and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut -- decided not to file to get on the primary ballot in Dean's home state.
For more on the campaign, click to view Foxnews.com's You Decide 2004 page.
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The deadline for a petition with 1,000 signatures from Vermont voters and $2,000 check was Jan. 20.
A month later, Dean, Gephardt and Lieberman have dropped out of the race, and the contest stands as a two-man race between John Kerry (search), the four-term Massachusetts senator who is on the ballot, and Edwards.
At stake March 2 in Vermont are 15 pledged delegates. Kerry already has more than a fourth of the 2,162 delegates needed to win the nomination, having pocketed 618 thus far, according to an Associated Press analysis. Edwards, the North Carolina senator, has 192.
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Other candidates on the ballot include Wesley Clark, who abandoned his bid, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. Dean, who quit campaigning on Wednesday, also remains on the ballot.