WASHINGTON, Feb 11 Kyodo Former G...

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 Kyodo

Former Gen Wesley Clark officially abandoned his bid Wednesday for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination to scud against President George W Bush.

Speaking in head of a hometown crowd in Little strength Arkansas, after finishing in a disappointing third in the couple Tennessee and Virginia primaries Tuesday, Clark said, ''With all of you, this has been each bit a cause as it has been a campaign.''

''So this is the extremity of the campaign for the presidency, moreover it is not the completion of the cause,'' he said.

With Massachusetts Sen John Kerry capturing 41% of Tennessee suffrages and 52% in Virginia trailed by way of North Carolina Sen. John Edwards at 27% in each, Clark's showings of 23% and 9% respectively, failed to be significant enough to withhold his campaign viable.

Clark, a former first allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, had solitary won the contest in Oklahoma, undivided of the 14 Democratic primaries and caucuses that have taken place likewise far, by a narrow margin and received a total of 102 delegates -- compared with Kerry's 516 to date.

Edwards, Clark's main competition against front-runner Kerry stands to gain the in the greatest degree from Clark's departure. As a chase Southerner, Edwards reckons that his base support overlaps somewhat with Clark's.

However, Kerry's Southern wins Tuesday propose his momentum has l to increasingly nationwide Democratic support.

Wisconsin will wait on as the next Democratic battleground nearest Tuesday, where former Vermont Gov Howard Dean attempts a last-ditch effort to demonstrate that he can win a state.

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