Milwaukee ? Showing the clear advantages of his front-runner status, Sen. John Kerry stayed Thursday in Washington to rest, receiving the news that one-time rival Wesley Clark would endorse him, while the other Democratic contenders campaigned vigorously in Wisconsin before leaving the state to raise much-needed money.

Kerry is to travel today to Madison, where Clark is expected to make his endorsement official.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., left, is expected to be endorsed today by former candidate Wesley Clark, right. They're shown during a break in a Democratic debate Jan. 22 in Goffstown, N.H.

The Wisconsin primary Tuesday represents one of the last realistic chances for Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean to derail Kerry, the winner of 12 of 14 contests as Democrats seek a presidential nominee.

Clark had one of the other victories, in the Oklahoma primary, while Edwards won in his native South Carolina.

The stakes are particularly high for Edwards, who many in the Democratic Party see as having a far better chance than Dean of overtaking Kerry — even though they concede that Edwards’ chances are slender.

In Milwaukee, Edwards again spoke to voters about what quickly is becoming the new core of his campaign speech: the loss of American jobs to other nations as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The senator will meet today with soon-to-be-unemployed factory workers, a portion of the nearly 500 people who will be affected when an auto plant shifts production from Milwaukee to a plant in Mexico next year.

Edwards is portraying himself as the alternative to Kerry, asking the voters to act “independent-minded.”