N.C. Democrats leave Edwards off the ballot

North Carolinians will not get a chance to vote for John Edwards.

State Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek excluded Edwards from a list of candidates he submitted Tuesday to the State Board of Elections for the May 6 primary. The Democrats on the North Carolina ballot will be U.S. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois -- and former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska.

Meek, who has discretion under state law on whom to include on the ballot, said Tuesday that he had hoped to confer with the Edwards campaign before making his decision.

But Meek said no one with the campaign returned his calls.

Meek said he based his decision on the law, which says the ballot should include "all candidates whose candidacy is generally advocated and recognized in the news media throughout the United States or in North Carolina."

Assuming that there is one voter out there for Gravel, that means he will get more votes in North Carolina than Edwards. Write-in votes are not counted in North Carolina primaries.

Edwards, an Orange County resident, suspended his presidential campaign last week after losing in Democratic caucuses and primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Some of his supporters, however, have been urging his backers to vote for Edwards anyway in the remaining primaries.

Republican presidential candidates on the ballot will be Mike Huckabee, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, according a list submitted by state Republican Chairwoman Linda Daves.