Starting as early as 1 a.m. Tuesday, cell phones were abuzz as the remaining contenders tried to woo Gephardt's South Carolina staff and volunteers for the state's now potentially decisive Feb. 3 primary.
The camps of Wesley Clark, Howard Dean and John Edwards all contacted Gephardt's Columbia headquarters looking to poach workers, telephone numbers and turnout lists.
Still, the biggest prize wasn't talking Tuesday. U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn's office said he would have no comment about his role in the primary until today.
Clyburn, D-S.C., the state's only black congressman, endorsed Gephardt weeks ago, but his office said he would have nothing to say about South Carolina's first-in-the-South vote on the same day Gephardt was quitting the race.
Representatives of the Edwards camp, however, seemed buoyed by Clyburn's remarks late Monday that the North Carolina senator was best-positioned to get former Gephardt backers since the two men have similar resumes.
"Everyone would like to have Clyburn's endorsement," Edwards' press spokeswoman Jenni Engebretsen said Tuesday.
Other prominent Gephardt supporters were bombarded throughout the day Tuesday as word quickly spread that his national campaign was ending and his South Carolina network was breaking up.
James Sanderson, union leader at the Georgetown Steel mill, said he was called by an Edwards supporter at 8:30 Tuesday morning asking for him to appear with Edwards at a rally in Georgetown before the vote.
The United Steel Workers of America had endorsed Gephardt, and the votes of Sanderson and several hundred other unemployed steel workers from Georgetown were expected to be a significant prize on the coast.
To Edwards' disappointment, Sanderson said he's going with Dean, who visited Georgetown last month and spoke forcefully about making trade partners do away with slave and child labor while enforcing worker rights and environmental controls.
Other representatives of South Carolina labor said Gephardt's exit frees them up to become more active in other campaigns. Among them is International Longshoremen's Association union chief Ken Riley of Charleston, who said he plans to expand his support for U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the winner in Iowa.
The ILA national office endorsed Gephardt last year, but Riley had separately committed to Kerry. "Now it means I don't have the decision haunting me that the national made," Riley said.
The Charleston ILA local has more than 1,000 members, and Riley plans to get as many of them as he can to vote for Kerry.
What remains uncertain about the Democrats' selection process is how South Carolina's black vote will be swayed by both the Iowa results and Gephardt's quick withdrawal. College of Charleston political scientist Jamie McKown said the black vote probably will divide itself after Gephardt's exit but that many will still be looking to Clyburn, the state's leading black political figure.
" 'Is he going to throw his weight in any direction?' is a question I think everyone wants answered," McKown said, adding that clues come through subtle quotes from Clyburn about a candidate or by his appearance at certain rallies.
Individual voters who had supported Gephardt agreed there would be a scramble by the remaining campaigns to win them over in the next few days. Sam Holmes of North Charleston had followed Gephardt's career for 20 years and thought he could have been competitive in South Carolina if he had stayed.
By lunchtime Tuesday, Holmes had switched to Dean.
"Now that he's dropped out, Dean is the person I think can most likely beat Bush in this November's election," Holmes said.
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