And Another One Bites The Dust

Fred Thompson quits presidential race

By DAVID ESPO and LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 22, 6:54 PM ET

NAPLES, Fla. - Republican Fred Thompson, the actor-politician who attracted more attention as a potential presidential candidate than as a real one, quit the race for the White House on Tuesday after a string of poor finishes in election primaries.

"Today, I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort," the former Tennessee

senator said in a brief statement.

Thompson's fate was sealed last Saturday in the South Carolina primary, when he finished third in a state he had said he needed to do well in, if not win.

Related Video

Republican Fred Thompson quits presidential race

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AP Photo: Then-Republican presidential hopeful, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson fields questions from the media during a...

• Slideshow: Fred Thompson

• Fred Thompson Drops Out of the Presidential Race at The New York Times, Jan 22
• With Thompson Out, Who Benefits Most? at The Washington Post, Jan 22

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The First Casualty:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080120/ap_on_el_pr/hunter_withdraws

Rep. Duncan Hunter exits Republican race

Sun Jan 20, 12:42 AM ET

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.

Hunter, a Vietnam veteran, was elected to Congress in 1980 as part of President Reagan's sweep into power. He appealed to some conservatives by focusing on military issues and border security.

AP Photo: Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., talks to supporters and members of the media after announcing that...

Slideshow: Rep. Duncan Hunter

COMMENTS:

Daniel said...

Well, poor Fred is Dead and Dunc has flunked! How many D*%kheads does that leave in the competition? Fair Dinkum, what a motely crew!

And the winner of the World's Most Mediocre Race is...........? Yawn!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:00:00 PM

Worried American said...

I'm not yawning, Daniel. I'm almost weeping in despair.A motley crew, indeed. All promise pie in the sky but the only one(s) who offer the recipe for the pies are short shafted by the media (and others) and called "minor" candidates! Hilary (the Bush clone, a pseudo-Dem) and John Edwards conspire on an open mike to cut the others from debates - and guess what? They get cut. The public at large depends on the media to obtain info on the candidates and the mainstream media blandly crafts what the public may hear and see. It is all a hype.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:49:00 PM