October 20, 1999
Web posted at: 2:32 p.m. EDT (1832 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Elizabeth Dole abandoned her bid for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination Wednesday, citing an inability to raise enough money to compete with the record-setting pace set by GOP front-runner George W. Bush.

Elizabeth Dole

Speaking at news conference, Dole said her lack of funds hampered her ability to travel, communicate with voters and hire campaign staffers for key states, making it "nearly impossible to sustain an effective campaign."

"I've learned that the current political calendar and election laws favor those who get an early start and can tap into huge private fortunes or who have a pre-existing network of political supports," she said.

She said she hoped to compensate for the lack of funds by attracting new voters to the political process, showcasing her extensive experience and advocating substantive issues

"But as important as these things may be, the bottom line remains money," she said.

Dole, like the rest of the GOP field, had lagged far behind Bush, who is the governor of Texas. She raised more than $1 million from July to September, but was far behind Bush, who continued his record-setting pace, raising more than $20 million.

Dole, 63, had never even formally announced for the presidency but unofficially was running. She had scheduled a formal announcement for November 7 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Dole was seen by many observers as the most credible female ever to seek the White House and was running second -- albeit a distant second -- to Bush in most national polls. She was a former cabinet secretary in two GOP administrations and she resigned as president of the Red Cross to seek the White House. She also had high name recognition among Republican activists.

She is married to the 1996 Republican presidential nominee, former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, and he was at her side as she announced her departure from the race. She thanked her "precious husband" for his support.

Dole noted that she had attracted a lot of political newcomers to her campaign, mainly women.

"I think that in terms of women and their views of my withdrawing from the race right now, I think what we've done is pave the way for the person who will be the first woman president," she said.

Asked if she would have done something differently now that she's dropping out, Dole said that leaving the Red Cross earlier might have made a difference. Dole could not raise money while Red Cross president because the organization has a strict non-partisan stance.

"But who knows if it would make that much of a difference because this is something that's never happened before," she said. "You know, timing's everything, isn't it?"

Her decision to leave the race leaves Bush, millionaire publisher Steve Forbes and Arizona Sen. John McCain in the top tier of the GOP field. The field is rounded out by religious conservative Gary Bauer, commentator Alan Keyes and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch. Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan plans to leave the GOP on Monday to seek the Reform Party nomination.

McCain said that "I lament that she and other good candidates had to withdraw for the wrong reasons rather than the right reasons."

"I'm sorry she lost the battle of bucks instead of ideas," he said.

Bush, speaking in Dallas, said that Dole was a "trailblazer."

"She has made a mark in the political process. She entered the primaries and brought a lot of dignity and class. I'm proud to call her a friend and I wish her all the best," Bush said.

Her campaign ended less than three months after a surprisingly solid third-place finish in Iowa's straw poll. The finish gave her a chance to boost her campaign, which was already sagging in polls and money-starved.

But Dole said that straw poll finish translated only into a stronger organization and not improved fund-raising.

CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider said Dole is fourth major Republican to drop out of the field, following Ohio Rep. John Kasich, former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander and former Vice President Dan Quayle.

"Look at all the candidates who've dropped out and not a single, real voter has cast a ballot," Schneider said. "Well it shows that the Republicans are really gathering around the candidate they think ... is a winner and that's George W. Bush. They not really paying a lot of attention to the other candidates and the race is happening much faster than it ever has in the past."

Dole said it was on a five-hour plane ride earlier this week that she realized she could not raise enough cash to compete with Bush and Forbes, who is largely financing his own campaign with his personal fortune.

The latest campaign finance reports showed that Dole had only about $860,000 in cash while Bush had more than $37 million in cash on hand. She said Bush and Forbes held a 75-to-1 cash advantage over her.

"Two people have spent $19 million already and TV ads are going up next. You know, I'm used to facing the odds but 75 or 80-to-1, that's pretty tough," he said.

She said Bush really began running back in 1996 when he "quietly but effectively" pulled in the Republican Party's traditional fund-raisers. She also cited that as Texas governor, he is close to the nation's GOP governors and their statewide political networks, including his brother Jeb, who is governor of Florida.

"I think clearly, here you have a situation, it's a phenomenon, it's never happened before in politics, it may never happen again, where you have person with a vast political network of supporters and this goes back through the years," she said.

In a conference call with her financial team Wednesday morning, Dole calculated her odds of winning at 75-to-1. "I've got to be honest with myself and the people on this call," she said. "You simply have to have money to compete."

Dole decision to drop out comes one day after McCain's campaign finance reform bill was again blocked by the Senate. McCain's bill dealt with "soft money," the unregulated donations given to the two national political parties by corporations, labor unions and other large organizations.

She said that soft money should be phased out so that the political parties have opportunity to adapt and to make sure it is even-handed and fair.

But she also said the $1,000 per donor contribution limit to presidential campaigns -- set in 1974 -- needs to be changed. "That doesn't even reflect the rate of inflation, so I think it is important to increase that, perhaps to as much as $5,000," she said.

"It's been very difficult for her to raise money. In fact, it's been very difficult for all the candidates to raise money because most of it, the overwhelming bulk of it, is going to George W. Bush," Schneider said.

In the most recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of Republican primary voters, Dole was second with 11 percent, far behind Bush at 60 percent. McCain was third at 8 percent.

A poll taken by CNN and WMUR in New Hampshire during September showed her third in popularity behind Bush and McCain.

Schneider said Bush wants to avoid a one-on-one contest with McCain in the first presidential primary in New Hampshire because it could become more of a serious challenge, similar to former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley's challenge to Vice President Al Gore in the Democratic race.

"To a lot of people, the two plausible candidates left are George Bush and John McCain and in a one-on-one race, that has the potential of getting pretty tight," he said.

But Schneider noted that her supporters would likely go to Bush as they cited him as their second choice in the most recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.

Dole did not endorse another candidate and declined to comment about the possibility of being on the GOP ticket as a vice presidential candidate, saying she has been focused on running for president.

Schneider said she is unlikely to offer an endorsement for awhile, noting that her husband is close to McCain. However, he also said that Dole is a likely contender for the vice presidential slot if Bush wins the nomination.

Dole was one of the most experienced candidates in the GOP field. She was transportation secretary from 1983 to 1987 in President Ronald Reagan's administration and served as labor secretary under President George Bush -- the father of the GOP front-runner -- from 1989 to 1991. Dole was president of the American Red Cross from 1991 to 1999, but took a 14-month unpaid leave of absence from November 1995 to January 1997 to work on husband's presidential campaign

Before that, she served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission from 1973 to 1979 and was a deputy assistant for consumer affairs to President Richard Nixon from 1971 to 1973.

She is a native of Salisbury, North Carolina, and graduated with honors from Duke University. She earned a degree from Harvard Law School in 1965 and also holds a master's degree in education and government from Harvard. She married Bob Dole on December 6, 1975.

CNN's Beth Fouhy and The Associated Press contributed to this report, which was written by Douglas S. Wood.

Wednesday, October 20, 1999

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• Key Democrat alleges 'anti-minority sentiment' in GOP
• Clinton signs housing bill as budget negotiators talk numbers
• Des Moines Register: Bradley gains Iowa support
• NHPrimary.com: Gun control advocates take aim at Bush
• Workers with disabilities get support from legislation
• Senate tries again to pass late-term abortion ban
• Campaign finance debate may be mixed blessing for McCain
• Democrats accuse GOP of stalling on gun control
• Lugar sees a third straight farm bailout
• AmeriCorps participants join Clinton on fifth anniversary of program
• Modest tax break extension moving in Senate
• House lawmakers debate funds for poor students
• Trump, Maples divorce gets uglier
• Court strikes down NYC anti-fraud checks for AIDS welfare recipients

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