Posted on 01/20/2004 6:22:06 AM PST by The_Victor
DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Richard Gephardt's poor showing in the Iowa caucuses on Monday brought an abrupt end to his White House bid and pushed the longtime U.S. lawmaker toward an earlier-than-hoped political retirement.
"Well, this didn't come out like we wanted," Gephardt, who finished fourth with just 11 percent of the vote, told a tearful gathering of about 200 supporters, many of them from 21 international unions that had endorsed his populist bid.
"Tonight I congratulate the other candidates for their strong campaigns here in Iowa," Gephardt said. "One of them will wind up carrying the banner of the great Democratic Party in this election, and they will have earned it, and I will support that candidate in any way that I can."
Gephardt, 62, a 14-term U.S. congressman and former Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives from neighboring Missouri, won the Iowa caucuses in 1988 at the start of his first White House bid, which soon fizzled out.
Gephardt has gone for political broke this time. He stepped aside as House Democratic leader last year and announced he would not seek reelection to the House this year.
"This is his last campaign," an aide said. "And it is over."
Iowa's Democratic caucuses -- public meetings across the state where residents publicly declared who they favored to be the party's nominee to challenge Republican President Bush (news - web sites) in November -- seemed perfectly fitted for Gephardt, who boasted a large get-out-the-vote operation aided by labor.
"You can't blame labor. If it wasn't for labor he would have done worse," said Jeff Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University. "I think there is just a sense that Dick Gephardt (news - web sites)'s time has come and gone."
Gephardt and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (news - web sites) had been running out front for months in Iowa, but U.S. Sens. John Kerry (news - web sites) of Massachusetts and John Edwards (news - web sites) of North Carolina caught them in the polls last week and passed them in Monday's caucuses.
FRESH FACE, NEW ENERGY
"Iowa knows and likes Dick Gephardt, but I think they are looking for a fresh face and new energy," said Stu Rothenberg of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.
Gephardt had hoped to win Iowa, the first battle for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, and then go on to New Hampshire, which will hold the second contest next week.
Yet with initial returns showing Gephardt losing big, he canceled the trip to New Hampshire and decided instead to head home to St. Louis where he plans to hold a news conference on Tuesday.
Gephardt, the son of a Teamster truck driver, had adopted a turtle as the mascot for his second White House bid -- slow and steady wins the race.
So do bold ideas. So he offered sweeping proposals to expand health care, upgrade education, move toward energy independence and protect American jobs from unfair trade.
Gephardt campaigned largely on his Washington experience, saying he was ready and able to serve. But traditionally Americans do not turn to members of Congress to be president.
In fact, the last sitting member of the U.S. House elected to the White House was James Garfield in 1880. The last sitting Senate member was John F. Kennedy in 1960.
In addressing backers on Monday night, Gephardt said: "Life will go on because this campaign was never about me. It was about all of us. It was about our future, and it was about our children, and the America ahead of us."
Is that the way you would describe Joh Kerry's face? "Fresh"?
In a "Sealed in plastic wrap in the meat cooler past it's pull date" kinda way, sure!
He's spent his entire national political carreer as an "also ran." You kinda have to feel sorry for him. Well, OK, maybe its pity.
I know! It was a complete stunner to me when I found out. I can't seem to ever remember hearing him bring it up.
I guess the media can barely contain themselves as they prepare to tell us which Democrat to vote for.
It just occurred to me that organized labor may have been the biggest loser of them all in Iowa.
If you're a Republican, then yes it does. However, if you're a RAT, you'll get an amnesty and glowing write-up in the New York Times.
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