As expected, John Kerry won virtually every primary yesterday. Edwards has unofficially withdrawn (registration required) from the race and is expected to make an official announcement this afternoon. The biggest surprise was that Howard Dean won his first primary two weeks after he withdrew from the race. Dean won his home state of Vermont, but it also helped that Edwards was not on the ballot (Edwards' campaign didn't bother with the paperwork back in January when Dean looked unstoppable).

The other surprise, although much less of one, was that Kerry most likely won Georgia. With 95% of precincts reporting as of this post, Kerry had 46.7% of the vote compared to 41.5% for Edwards. The exit polling in Georgia was interesting too.

Edwards fared well among voters who cared more about the issues than defeating Bush. This is consistent with polls in other states. Kerry seems to have locked up the Democratic nomination because his party thinks he is most likely to beat Bush, not because they like his stances.

More black voters backed Kerry than Edwards, but the majority of white voters supported Edwards.This is also consistent with other Southern polls. Given recent trends, Kerry can expect to receive over 80% of the black vote. However, Kerry has an uphill battle to win the votes of non-black Southerners.

After Edwards makes it official today, expect to see both President Bush and Senator Kerry spending more time focused on each other and (hopefully) their own issues.

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