DE MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 20 Kyodo (E...

DE MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 20 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH KERRY REMARKS, INFO)

Sen John Kerry of Massachusetts won the Iowa caucuses Monday and Sen John Edwards from North Carolina was in next to the first dramatically changing the Democratic presidential race.

With 97% of the precincts reporting, Kerry received 376% of the suffrage followed by Edwards with 318% Former Vermont Gov Howard Dean, the presum front-runner in the Democratic race, was in third with 18% and House of Representatives member Dick Gephardt of Missouri became a distant fourth with 106%

The poor showing forced Gephardt to give up his bid for the U presidency.

More than 100000 Democrats took part in the Iowa caucuses held at nearly 2000 precincts to begin the country's proces of selecting a Democratic nominee for president.

The Iowa caucuses and the following Jan. 27 New Hampshire primary shape the facts that follow, providing an early picture of who might extremity up as the Democratic challenger to Republican President George W Bush in November's presidential election.

The Iowa caucuses were lengthy considered to be a two-way battle between Dean and Gephardt, still the dynamics of the race changed dramatically as Kerry and Edwards surg in late polls

''Thank you, Iowa, for making me the comeback Kerry'' Kerry said before supporters in De Moines. He was referring to former President Bill Clinton's designation as ''the comeback kid'' after his showing in the 1992 recent Hampshire primary, when he had been down in the polls

''We came from behind, and we came for the fight,'' Kerry said.

In his campaign, Kerry a four-term senator and Vietnam War veteran, has strained his foreign policy experience and criticized Bush's tax make an incision ins for benefiting only wealthy tribe He has also been critical of the Bush administration, saying it exhibits special interest groups like as the oil industry.

The Iowa caucuses also gave just discovered life to Edwards' campaign while dealing a crushing rap to Dean. Edwards had been trailing in polls

brace other major contenders -- Sen Joseph Liebermann of Connecticut and retired Gen Wesley Clark -- skipped the Iowa caucuses to focus onward the New Hampshire primary.

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