- Title: USA: REPUBLICAN STEVE FORBES WITHDRAWS FROM PRESIDENTIAL RACE.
- Date: 10th February 2000
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 10, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/PAN/GV: PUBLISHER AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE STEVE FORBES WALKING ONTO STAGE WITH FAMILY AND SUPPORTERS (2 SHOTS) 0.11 2. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORBES SAYING "Well my friends, as my father once said, when he lost a governor's race in New Jersey, we were nosed out by
- Embargoed: 25th February 2000 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., AND AMES, IOWA, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVAERZ320AI3L04YAI09UFEHC3O1
- Story Text: United States (U.S.) publisher Steve Forbes has
formally withdrawn from the 2000 presidential race without
endorsing any of his Republican Party rivals.
Steve Forbes told supporters on Thursday (February 10)
that he was withdrawing from the presidential contest but that
he would not withdraw from the public square.
He made the announcement at a hotel in Washington with his
wife Sabina and two of his five daughters at his side.
As they wiped away tears, Forbes gave his familiar stump
speech one last time.
He declined to endorse either Texas Governor George W.
Bush or Arizona Senator John McCain, the two men now fighting
for the Republican presidential nomination.
Later, Forbes said he would decide whether to endorse
another candidate in a few weeks.
Forbes spent more than 30 million U.S.dollars on his
second presidential bid but quit after placing a distant third
in Delaware's Republican primary on Tuesday, behind Bush and
McCain.
"We were nosed out by a landslide.But we have no regrets
and neither should you," Forbes said.
The publisher, whose family owns the business magazine
that carries its name, had worked tirelessly for the past four
years, almost from that day that his 1996 presidential bid
collapsed, for the White House prize.
Forbes' withdrawal -- he is the seventh declared
Republican candidate to drop out -- leaves Bush and McCain
vying for the nomination with only talk radio host Alan Keyes
on the fringes of the race.
Forbes won the Delaware and Arizona primaries in 1996,
campaigning on a platform of scrapping the income tax and
replacing it with a 17 percent flat tax for all.
In 2000, he added an anti-abortion message to his
platform.But Forbes could get no traction in a campaign that
had been dominated by Bush's money and clout until McCain
shook things up by drubbing Bush in last week's New Hampshire
primary.
Forbes, whose net worth has been estimated at about 500
million U.S.dollars, shelled out more than 28 million dollars
for the 2000 bid and spent about 37 million dollars of his own
fortune on his failed 1996 attempt for the Republican
nomination.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None