The high point of John Edwards’ campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination may have come in a Myrtle Beach, S.C., debate, when he refereed the back-and-forth between front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

That was his problem.

His issue – to build “one America” – was clear. If you wanted to know how he intended to do that, you could look at his Web site for detailed proposals: on providing universal health care, making college affordable and withdrawing troops from Iraq.

But who bothered? His campaign never got any traction in a year that featured one candidate who captured the imagination with a message of change, and another with an army of fans – including an ex-president husband.

Edwards was the man in the middle. He outlasted Biden, Dodd, Richardson and company, but could do no better than third place in his home state of South Carolina, where he won in 2004.

He was history while his competitors – both best-seller list veterans – were making history. For many, he had his shot in 2004.

But in other ways, Edwards was as relevant as ever. In announcing his withdrawal from the 2008 race, Edwards returned to New Orleans, where he began his campaign. Again he brought a spotlight to neighborhoods still devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Edwards said Clinton and Obama had pledged that “they will make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency.”

His laser-like focus on that issue, not your usual vote-getter, kept other politicians and his Democratic Party honest.

“John ran with compassion and conviction and lifted this campaign with his deep concern for the daily lives of the American people,” Clinton said in a statement.

“At a time when our politics is too focused on who’s up and who’s down, he made a nation focus again on who matters,” Obama said.

OK, so both senators are sending candy and flowers in hopes of an endorsement. Still you have to figure they mean what they say.

Perhaps Edwards never overcame the jokes – about a mansion-owning millionaire with a taste for expensive haircuts caring about the poor. None of the other millionaire candidates have been put through that wringer.

Edwards might have been better off not caring, or at least not talking about it so much.

In this economy, his nonpartisan Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at UNC Chapel Hill will have plenty to do.

His brief Senate career was most known for a since-repudiated vote authorizing a president to go to war. Admitting you ever changed an opinion is no way to get elected.

Edwards was criticized for campaigning while his wife, Elizabeth, lived with cancer. At the announcement, she didn’t look like someone who wanted to quit.

Edwards, though, had a Habitat house to work on.

As John Edwards moves out of the campaign, the causes he championed should remain.

Mary C. Curtis is a columnist for The Charlotte Observer. E-mail her at [email protected].