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| Rep. Duncan Hunter exits Republican race | |
| 2008-01-20 | |
| SAN DIEGO - Rep. Duncan Hunter is dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination after a poor showing in the Nevada caucus. "I ran the campaign exactly the way I wanted to, and at this point not being able to gain traction in conservative states of Nevada and South Carolina, it's time to allow our volunteers and supporters to focus on the campaigns that remain viable," Hunter said in a statement issued Saturday in advance of a speech planned later in the evening to campaign workers and other supporters. "We thought we'd do much better in Nevada, but the numbers weren't there," said campaign spokesman Bob Bevill. "We were not able to get any traction." In recent weeks Hunter, a California congressman, was forced at every stop to dispel rumors that the campaign was already dead and was unable to talk about the issues, Bevill said. The best showing of Hunter's campaign was in Wyoming's Jan. 5 caucuses, in which he won 8 percent of the vote, finishing third behind Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson. "The media has a 'vote someone off the island' mentality and Duncan Hunter was a casualty of that," said Bevill.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #6 Glemore, that was based on the last internal polls I had access to - but those are from early December, so things may have changed dramatically. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-01-20 21:49 |
| #5 I don't know that Fred's running first here (Louisiana), and if so I don't know why, since there has been no campaigning. I do know that my wife and I both changed party registration so we would have the chance to vote for him I'm not even very confident he would be a good (or even decent) President, but I do like his position and his behavior. He's run his campaign just like 'everyone' says the wanted to see campaigns run, but it seems they lied. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-01-20 18:23 |
| #4 Hunter as SecDef, yep that would work. I guess Fred's going to go back to Hollywood after 5 Feb. Supposedly he is staying in thru the big 5 Feb day, to try to collect delegates off partial percentages in the south and as a Favorite Son for the 55 delegates in Tenn. One thing peopel forget, Fred has been running FIRST in Louisiana. Thats enough to throw a monkey wrench into things. Basically if Thompson continues to run 3rd with 15% on average, and takes Tenn and La, he will end up with a couple hundred delegates, and could be a king maker at a brokered convention, or at least could push somone to adopt his policies in order to trade for the delegates support. So no he's not going to be PResident, but for most "Fredheads" its always been about the message: truly conservative on all fronts. If Fred can stand in and keep the hammer down, he can at least help steer McCain, Romney or Giuliani towards the right positions - and he can drag Huckabee down and out. Playing the part of the curmudgeonly old conservative to kick the others in the butt where they are wrong is a good role for Fred. All of them: Federalism, Global Warming. McCain: Immigration/Border, Taxes Giuliani: Guns, Judges, SocCon issues Romney: Socialized medicine, guns, judges Huckabee? I hope Fred keeps shredding the Republican Jimmy Carter + Bill Clinton chimera. IMHO, Fred's major mistake was leaving an opening that Huckabee filled. Put Hucks one-issue morons in Fred colum and he's the runaway favorite. THats Fred's error - should have actually CAMPAIGNED starting in September in Iowa and made nice with the Evangelicals. Heck, he should have kicked his campaign off July 5th after announcing onthe 4th. He had all kinds of momentum, press on his side, tons of people lined up ready to move, tons of politicians line up ready to endorse. That was his biggest mistake: listening to whoever told him to wait. Now he has to content himself as the elder lecturer and spoiler. I hoep he realizes the values he can bring for us conservatives in that trole to steer these partial conservatives back on the Reagan path. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-01-20 16:07 |
| #3 He'll make a great VP or SecDef. He's a smart conservative and a good man. I'm in his district, and supporting his Marine Vet son to carry on the agenda |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-01-20 13:51 |
| #2 WIth Thompson nowt showing well yesterday, it looks liek Conservatives have nobody left thats all 3 types of conservative (social, economic, defense). Federalism is becoming extinct the the Big Government GOP of George Bush. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-01-20 11:55 |
| #1 it is too bad. He was the best conservative candidate by far. |
| Posted by: Whomong Guelph4611 2008-01-20 04:42 |