Various sources say Elizabeth Dole - who favors a legislative mandate for software blocking adult-oriented material access online - is opting out of the Republican White House hunt. That leaves seven candidates going for the GOP nomination - six, if you count Patrick Buchanan's expected, coming bolt to the Reform Party later this month.
According to reports this morning, Dole - who had said last week she'd make her official campaign announcement Nov. 7 - is pulling out because she can't raise enough money to compete effectively against her party rivals. Dole's withdrawal, according to several wire reports, could most help Texas governor George W. Bush and Arizona Senator John McCain - though the reports also say she won't rush to endorse any candidate, if she endorses at all.
The Associated Press cites two sources close to the former Red Cross president and U.S. Transportation Secretary for the likely announcement. ``When the money becomes the message the process is diminished,'' Dole says in a draft the AP says it has obtained.
A McCain spokesman tells Conservative News Service he would not comment until Dole made her formal announcement, while the Bush campaign was putting a statement together Wednesday morning.
Dole has been considered a mostly moderate candidate, one compelling reason why her withdrawal helps Bush and McCain. She took few hard positions except regarding adult material, where she supports legislation mandating public libraries and schools using blocking software if their computers are subsidized with tax dollars.
She also attracted some new supporters to Republican ranks, mostly young, professional women, the AP says - but she was also criticized for running a mostly issue-less campaign which had little more to offer other than her being the first woman to mount what's called a top-tier Presidential bid.
Bush, McCain, and Forbes publisher Steve Forbes remain in the top Republican tier, with Buchanan and three others holding down the lower tier, including former Reagan Administration official Gary Bauer. But Buchanan is expected to announce very shortly that he's bolting the Republican Party to try for the Reform Party nomination.
