Nation: Sad Finale: Brown Bags It

The Doonesbury campaign falls off the existential edge

For nearly three weeks, the slight, intense figure in the rumpled trench coat campaigned across Wisconsin at dairy farms and bowling alleys, in workingmen's bars and suburban living rooms. "My campaign," Jerry Brown expounded to a throng of supporters in Madison's Cardinal Bar, "is on the edge, the existential edge."

Last week, after the ballots in Wisconsin were counted, Brown dropped right off that edge. The California Governor, 42, withdrew from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination after capturing a feeble 12% of the vote....