Kerry rivals retreat for weekend poll battles

John Kerry’s chief rivals all but ceded three weekend elections to the high-striding presidential front-runner, covering their retreat with fresh claims that he would lead the party to defeat in the presidential election this autumn.

Southern natives John Edwards and Wesley Clark pointed their cash-strapped campaigns to next Tuesday’s elections in Tennessee and Virginia, gambling that they can survive to fight Kerry in Wisconsin on February 17. A third challenger, Howard Dean, also had his sights set on a Wisconsin showdown.