Numbers adding up to strain for Edwards

Despite his strong showing in Wisconsin, Sen. John Edwards faces a sobering uphill battle to overcome Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry's big lead in the race for delegates to secure the party's nomination.

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 has 192.

Edwards 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 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. The deadline for a petition with 1,000 signatures of Vermont voters and a $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 Kerry, the four-term Massachusetts senator who is on the ballot, and Edwards. At stake March 2 in Vermont are 15 pledged delegates.

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.

Arcane Democratic party rules governing how delegates are allocated among candidates may impede Edwards' chances of overtaking Kerry, even if the North Carolina senator does well over the next few weeks, analysts say.

"I think it's going to be very difficult for Edwards," said Laurie Moskowitz, a political consultant in Washington who headed the delegate-tracking operation for Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign. "Party rules favor those who have a lead."

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