U.S. Sen. John Edwards campaigned in northeast Ohio Saturday night on the weekend before decisive Super Tuesday, when 10 states will award more than half of the delegates needed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.

A total of 1,151 delegates will be awarded Tuesday -- about 53 percent of the 2,162 delegates needed to win the nomination.

Edwards and U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts are leading the Democratic field.

Edwards has virtually ceded four New England states to Kerry and stands little chance of victory in the biggest battlegrounds, New York and California, or Maryland. That leaves Georgia, Ohio, Minnesota as his targets, and polls show him trailing in those states.

With 140 delegates, Edwards said Ohio is the bellwether state that has sided with the winner in 13 out of the last 14 presidential elections.

"I came here tonight to ask you to go to the polls, to reach out to friends, and to get on the phone -- call everybody you can reach," he said.

Edwards and Kerry have both spent large amounts of money in Ohio in preparation for Super Tuesday. Each candidate pledges to protect American jobs -- a key issue for a state that lost 270,000 jobs in the last three years.

Speaking to the northeast Ohio audience Saturday, Edwards asked voters for a chance to compete against President George W. Bush in November.

"You give me a shot at George Bush and I will give you back the White House!" he said to a cheering audience.

U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt was also in Ohio Saturday campaigning for Kerry, who threw his support behind after dropping out of the presidential contest.

Gephardt spoke at a Teamsters' fund-raiser for laid-off workers in Berea and was was scheduled to spend most of Sunday in Cleveland talking at various churches.

Edwards hopes to score multiple victories Tuesday and keep his candidacy alive until March 9, when four Southern states hold primaries and caucuses. A sweep that week would set the stage for a showdown with Kerry March 16 in Illinois.