Edwards could have been kingmaker

John Edwards' former law partner says he could have been a kingmaker.

Raleigh attorney David Kirby, who worked on Edwards' fundraising committee, said that he had enough money to campaign in rural areas on Super Tuesday—and keep earning delegates—potentially all the way to the Democratic National Convention.

"Could he have stayed in through Super Tuesday? Yes. Could he have run some radio and cable television ads? Yes. Could he have waged a national media campaign on major networks? No," he said.

He said that smaller online donations had picked up since a debate on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Kirby didn't speak to Edwards about the decision to drop out, but he said it would have been based on what he felt was the best way to keep his crusade against poverty and for universal health care.

Rather than accumulate delegates to play kingmaker at the convention, he dropped out and secured pledges from the two campaigns to keep poverty central, he said.

"I was a little surprised that he concluded his campaign today," Kirby said. "But he did it for the right reasons."