Former frontrunner Dean drops out after his 17th loss in a row

THE US: In one of the most dramatic reversals of fortune in American political history, Mr Howard Dean was forced to drop out of the Democratic race for president yesterday. Conor O'Clery reports from New York

Until five weeks ago, Mr Dean had dominated the race with an army of young followers and a $40 million war chest.

The departure of the former governor of Vermont became inevitable after his 17th straight loss in the primary campaign. He got only 18 per cent of the vote in Tuesday's crucial Wisconsin primary, which Senator John Kerry won with 40 per cent to 34 per cent for Senator John Edwards.

A late surge for Mr Edwards in Wisconsin suprised pollsters and kept the campaign hopes of the North Carolina senator alive as he pursues the frontrunner.

The voters of Wisconsin sent a clear message to Mr Kerry, Mr Edwards said gleefully: "objects in your mirror may be closer than they appear."

Mr Dean announced his departure from the race at a rally in his home town of Burlington, Vermont, yesterday afternoon. He declined to endorse either Mr Kerry or Mr Edwards but said he would support the eventual nominee of the party.

"The bottom line is we must beat George W. Bush in November, whatever it must take," said Mr Dean, who undertook to convert his campaign into a grass-roots organisation "to take back America for the people".

Mr Dean defined his legacy as that of a candidate who spoke the truth and who shaped the campaigns of his rivals by demonstrating a desire among Democrats for someone who would stand up to President Bush.

A year ago, he said, Democrats were supporting the war in Iraq, accepting budget deficits and tax cuts that mortaged the future, and adopting the president's failed education policies. "They don't talk like that any more," he declared to cheers.

"We have exposed the dangerous, radical nature of George W. Bush's agenda, we have demonstrated to other Democrats that it is a far-better strategy to stand up against the right wing agenda of George W. Bush than it is to co-operate with it, and we have led this party back to considering what its heart and soul is, though there is a lot still to do."

With his wife, Dr Judith Steinberg, smiling behind him, he added: "We have at least promoted the debate as to whether a woman needs to gaze adoringly at her husband or follow her own career." Dr Steinberg continued working at her medical practice in Vermont while her husband campaigned and only joined the campaign in the last month.

Mr Dean dominated the polls from September to early January with a feisty anti-war message that ignited an Internet movement of 640,000 followers who fuelled the campaign with small donations.

However, the closer voters looked at Mr Dean, the less they seemed to like him. Doubts about his personality were confirmed with a series of gaffes, including his defiant yell in Iowa, where he came third after leading in the polls for weeks.

The victor in Iowa, Mr Kerry, has now won 15 of 17 contests.

Exit polls in Wisconsin showed that voters again supported Mr Kerry as the most likely candidate to beat George Bush, while those who backed Senator Edwards wanted to send a message that they were concerned about jobs.

The task now facing Mr Kerry is to show that he is not just "electable", but that he has a substantial policy platform around which the party can coalesce.

Mr Edwards has challenged Mr Kerry to a one-on-one debate before Super Tuesday, March 2nd, when 10 states - California, New York, Ohio, Minnesota, Vermont, Georgia, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maryland - will elect 1,151 delegates, more than half the total needed to claim the nomination.

Mr Kerry declared on Tuesday evening, "We're going to win the nomination." But yesterday he wasted no time in going to campaign in Ohio, where Mr Edwards could pull a suprise because of his opposition to free-trade agreements.

Mr Kerry is a supporter of the NAFTA agreement which unions claim has sent thousands of American manufacturing jobs to Mexico, but has promised to review all trade agreements upon taking office to protect jobs and labour and environmental standards.