Kerry plans to buy ad time in Washington, D.C., to reach Democratic-heavy northern Virginia, aides said. It's an expensive market, and it was unclear whether Edwards would have the money to match Kerry ad-for-ad as he did in Tuesday's states.

Dean, a former Vermont governor, ran out of cash and momentum after finishing third in Iowa and a distant second in New Hampshire. He ran no TV ads in the seven states and intended to stay off the air for a spate of other contests until Feb. 17, when Wisconsin votes.

On a deeply divided staff, some Dean aides were focused on raising money to cover campaign debts, an emphasis that gave a backseat to costly political tactics such as television commercials.

Exit polls also showed that nearly half of voters in five states said they made up their minds within the last week. One in five waited until Tuesday to pick a candidate.

Edwards scored well among whites, older people, the less-educated and voters who called themselves moderate or conservative, according to exit polls in South Carolina.

Kerry and Clark, both Vietnam veterans, had plenty of company. Seven in 10 Oklahoma voters, and nearly that many in South Carolina, said they had served in the military or have somebody in their households who did, according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.