Edwards & Giuliani Out

The campaign trail has two fewer candidates.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, saying "it's time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path," dropped out of the presidential race.

He made the announcement in the same city where he kicked off his campaign, New Orleans.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani also officially dropped out Wednesday, endorsing Sen. John McCain in the process, making it clear after coming in third in the make-or-break Florida primary that he was finished.

In Edwards' case, he had also campaigned hard in previous primaries and caucuses but placed a distant third to senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, basically shutting down his presidential aspirations even before Super Tuesday.

Edwards was the first Democrat to put out his detailed health plan, which called for eventual universal coverage of all Americans. He repeated that call during his press conference Wednesday: "Universal health care for every man, woman and child in America ... That is our cause."

Giuliani based his campaign on "12 commitments." Two of them focused on health care issues: One was a pledge to give "Americans more control over and access to health care with affordable and portable free-market solutions." He also pledged to "increase adoptions, decrease abortions, and protect the quality of life for our children."

If you want to know more about Edwards or Giuliani, you can find out about them on our "Who's Dropped Out" page.

As for the remaining candidates, both Republican and Democrat, you can see how they face off on health, a major concern for voters, in our candidate comparison chart.

And you can always get the latest news from around the country on the next big contest, Super Tuesday, and beyond, on our election news page.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD

(Rebecca Bates contributed to this report)

Giuliani Down for the Count

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was a bit like a boxer who waited until the third round to step into the ring, only to get knocked out decisively.

After pinning all his hopes on Florida by forgoing earlier caucuses and primaries, the Republican contender came in a distant third on Tuesday to winner John McCain and runner-up Mitt Romney.

Giuliani's concession speech relied on the past tense, and various media reports say he's prepared to drop out of the race.

Giuliani made it clear that Florida was make-or-break for him, and it turned out to be a bad break. It might be a good break for McCain though, who will reportedly get Giuliani's endorsement.

Giuliani based his campaign on "12 commitments." Two of them focused on health care issues: One was a pledge to give "Americans more control over and access to health care with affordable and portable free-market solutions." He also pledged to "increase adoptions, decrease abortions, and protect the quality of life for our children."

If you want to know more about Giuliani, you can find out about him in our election special "Health Matters in the 2008 Election."

As for all the remaining candidates still in the fight, both Republican and Democrat, you can see how they face off on health, a major concern for voters, in our candidate comparison chart.

And you can always get the latest news from around the country on the next big contest, Super Tuesday, and beyond, on our election news page.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD

Going Off Menu

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is known for his healthy habits, such as running several times a week and eating his wife's homemade granola. That's why it made a bit of news on foxnews.com when he went off menu and ate fried chicken last week. Not just any fried chicken, mind you, but none other than some from the Colonel himself.

He only ordered it because there was no broiled chicken left, and he said it was OK because he took off the skin and only ate the chicken. His press secretary confirmed that it had no trans fat or saturated fat, and WebMD's Director of Nutrition, Kathleen Zelman, said it was a great choice.

"It's very nutritious and it's a healthier way to eat fried chicken," Zelman says.

(With or without skin, Romney's not the only one who likes fried chicken; fellow candidate Mike Huckabee confessed that it's his favorite guilty pleasure food.)

We can only imagine how difficult it is to stay healthy when you are overextended and have no time to keep up your healthy habits. That's one reason why we asked the candidates about how they handle the stress of the campaign.

You can read about that and all the candidates' health habits, challenges, and guilty pleasures on our Candid Candidates page.

Valarie Basheda
Managing Editor, WebMD

Kucinich Drops Out

The Democratic field is one less. In a news conference Friday, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich said he "fought the good fight," but he's dropping out of the presidential race.

The former mayor of Cleveland said he will still seek a seventh term in Congress as an Ohio representative.

Always considered a long-shot bid, Kucinich got lots of attention in his second run for president, but as with his first attempt, hardly any votes.

Among all the candidates, both Democrat and Republican, he was the only one suggesting a single-payer health care system, which meant a government-funded, nonprofit universal health care plan for all Americans.

If you want to know more about Kucinich, you can still find out about him in our "Who's Dropped Out" section of our election special "Health Matters in the 2008 Election."

As for the dwindling number of candidates still running, you can see how they compare on health, a major concern for voters, in our candidate comparison chart.

And you can always get the latest news on the primaries from around the country on our election news page.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD

Fred Thompson Calls It Quits

It took former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson a while to enter the presidential race, and perhaps that hurt him since he never really gathered the momentum he needed to make a go of it.

Regardless, now it's over. Thompson has dropped out. In a brief statement posted on his campaign site, he says: "Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people."

It would be hard for anyone to say this comes as a surprise. The former (and future?) Law & Order actor finished third in South Carolina, which was considered a "firewall," do-or-die state for Thompson. The weak showing came after poor finishes in the earlier caucuses and primaries, too.

As for his health care policy, it was never a cornerstone of his campaign. Thompson did say that every American is entitled to affordable health care, but he opposed any taxes or mandates to reach that goal.

If you want to know more about Thompson, you can go to the "Who's Dropped Out" section of our election special "Health Matters in the 2008 Election."

As for the candidates who are still hot on the trail, you can see how they compare on health, a major concern for voters, in our candidate comparison chart.

And you can get the latest news on the primaries from around the country on our election news page.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD

Duncan Hunter Out

Unless you followed the presidential race closely, you might not have known Duncan Hunter, a U.S. representative from California, was even running for president as a Republican.

But after weak showings in Nevada and conservative South Carolina, Hunter has declared he's dropping out of the race.

As for his health stance, he never really had one. Hunter had some positions, such as allowing insurance to be purchased across states lines, but he placed most of his focus on immigration issues.

If you want to know more about him, you can find it in our "Who's Dropped Out" section of our election special "Health Matters in the 2008 Election."

As for the candidates who are still running hard, you can compare how they stack up on health, a major concern for voters, in our candidate comparison chart.

And you can get the latest news on the primaries from around the country on our election news page.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD

Speaking of Mental Health

While one in four American adults suffer from mental disorders, and mental disorders are the leading cause of disability for people aged 15 to 44, mental health as a topic often remains on the back burner on the campaign trail.

Among the presidential candidates, many may talk about chronic conditions in their health care plans, but few talk about mental health. And when the National Alliance on Mental Illness asked them to respond to a questionnaire about their views on mental health policy, only three completed it: Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama. (John McCain didn't answer the questions but submitted a mental health statement.)

The questionnaire asked 22 questions, ranging from coverage for mental health plans to help for vets to training for mental professionals. If this issue is important to you and you are interested in their views, read about them here.

Valarie Basheda
Managing Editor
WebMD

Richardson Drops Out

Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson announced that he will drop out of the 2008 presidential race.

Richardson's decision to quit the race, made public at a press conference in his home state Thursday, came after poor showings by the candidate in the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucus. He finished fourth place in both contests, receiving just 5% of the vote in New Hampshire and 2% in Iowa.

"It's been an exhilarating and humbling year, an experience I will treasure and never forget," Richardson said.

Richardson brought the enthusiasm, and the resume (governor, congressman, Clinton cabinet member, to name a few) to his campaign, but he just couldn't grab his share of the spotlight or of the voters. His campaign coffers also were reportedly running low.

He was easily elected governor twice (he will be forced out of office by term limits in 2010).

Richardson intended to try to provide health care coverage for all Americans, regardless of pre-existing conditions, if elected president.

Meanwhile, you can still find out about the rest of the candidates' health plans at our election site, "Health Matters in the 2008 Election."

You can also find out the full health care plans and other information about all of the candidates who gave it their best shot but fell short on our page "Who's Dropped Out." That's where Richardson's information will be found.

We'll keep you posted.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD

The Votes Are In

With New Hampshire in the rearview mirror, and the wind behind a few candidates' backs, you'll probably start to hear more numbers and statistics now than at a baseball game.

I'll begin here, and this turns out to be good news for Clinton, now that she's barely won New Hampshire: According to the Congressional Quarterly, every candidate over the past three and half decades who won both Iowa and New Hampshire went on to win their party's nomination. Obama came close. The two exceptions to this fact since 1972: George McGovern and Bill Clinton. Well, now there's a second Clinton we can call the "Comeback Kid."

And she came back at the right time. According to The Poynter Institute, the percentage of Democratic candidates that win the New Hampshire primary and then go on to win their party's nomination: 75%.

As for the Republicans, the field is also a mixed one, but McCain's win is an important one, because the Poynter numbers for the Democrats are the same for Republicans: Win New Hampshire, and you have a 75% chance at the nomination.
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But two new articles out Tuesday on WebMD highlight the numbers that will really count down the road. One shows that out of 19 industrialized countries, the U.S. has the highest rate of preventable deaths before age 75.

Another article shows that the U.S. spent a record $2.1 trillion health care in 2006, nearly 7% more than the year before.

Exit polls show that the economy was the voters' top issue in this primary, and health care is a big part of that calculation. There is no doubt that health care will matter in the presidential election, and there will be clear differences among the candidates. You can see where the current front-runners, and all the candidates, stand on health care in our comparison chart.

In our election special you can find what all the buzzwords you'll hear really mean, as well as what key opinion and thought leaders think about the health care problem in this country.

If you want, you can give a voice to your vote, or get all your election news from other credible news organizations, right here.

In short, we're committed at WebMD to help inform your decisions regarding health care in the upcoming primaries and presidential election.

We'll keep you posted.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD

New Hampshire, New Start?

While the New Hampshire primary offers an opportunity for some candidates to shore up their lead, there are obviously other interested parties that would undoubtedly like to restore, or simply jump-start, their campaigns.

Although Iraq still plays a huge role in the campaign, it's very clear that domestic issues are the driving forces for voters. Recent polling shows that the economy and health care are again trumping Iraq as major concerns. We wrote about it here recently, and we'll stress it again: Health care matters in this election.

Health care issues also played a part in this past weekend's debates, especially among the GOP candidates, who stressed their various platforms highlighting free-market reforms. If you want to compare the various candidates' plans, you can do so with WebMD's side-by-side charts, for Democrats and Republicans.

Just a few days into the primary season, and already it's been dramatic and surprising.

We'll keep you posted.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD

Beginnings, and Endings

Iowa may not be fully representative of how the chips will ultimately fall in the presidential primaries, but the results were certainly dramatic, and surprising.

First, the endings. Two candidates, Democratic U.S. senators Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, ended their campaigns after barely moving the needle in Iowa.

And for both the Democrats and Republicans, Iowa made New Hampshire's primary, this Tuesday, more interesting.

Whether issues or personality will play more into Tuesday's primary is hard to say, but true to form last night, the Democrats played up health care in their speeches.

Some surprising numbers and information on the cost and state of health care in the U.S. will be released Tuesday that will get full coverage here at WebMD, and no doubt in the press at large. So health care will be on voters' minds as they enter the booth, and probably on politicans' lips. And as the last blog entry here mentioned, health care and the economy are top concerns in this race.

In the meantime, you can find out what you need to know about health issues in this election at our special, "Health Matters in the 2008 Election." You can compare what the candidates plan for health care, what major thought and opinion leaders think about health care, and keep up with more of the latest election news from credible and respected news organizations around the country.

And please let us know what you think about the special, the election, or what you'd like to read more about, either here at this blog or on our election message board.

We'll keep you posted. Now it's on to the battle in New Hampshire. Despite the cold, the gloves are off, for sure.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD

Health Care Top Issue in Poll

With the primary season finally underway, what do voters have on their minds?

Health care and the economy.

A recent Associated Press poll showed that they were the top issues that voters said were "extremely important" to them, more so than the war in Iraq.

The poll was taken before former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, which could put terrorism and national security more front and center in coming weeks. But health care has consistently remained among top domestic voter concerns, and that's not likely to change.

Some other health care findings from the poll:

More people (32%) said they were worried about facing unexpected medical expenses than any other issue they were asked about.

Sixty-five percent said the country should adopt a "universal health insurance program in which everyone is covered under a program like Medicare that is run by the government and financed by taxpayers."

Fifty-four percent said they supported a single-payer health care system, a national plan financed by taxpayers that would cover all Americans through a single government plan.

More people (41%) trusted Democrats to do a better job of handling health care than Republicans (17%).

In other health care news, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled Dec. 26 that companies can cut their retirees' benefits once they turn 65 and are eligible for Medicare.

Medicare was also the topic of a recent study which found that the health of adults who were uninsured improved once they qualified for Medicare coverage.

While it may be in the news, health care is not always front and center on the campaign trail, no matter how important it is to voters. So if you want an in-depth look at where the candidates stand, take a look at our comparison chart and detailed platforms on each candidate.

And for those in Iowa, happy voting!

Valarie Basheda
Managing Editor
WebMD