Free Republic

Richmond, VA – Jim Gilmore, a tax-slashing former Virginia governor, announced he will explore a presidential bid in 2008. Citing what he said was the lack of a true conservative in the field of GOP White House prospects, Gilmore said Tuesday he will charter a federal committee in January that would allow him to assess his chances for the race himself. "There is not a committed conservative in the field who can put together a national campaign. I am and I can. I have people on the ground right now in Iowa and in South Carolina," Gilmore, 57, said in...

Los Angeles, Calif.—The most unanticipated news item to emerge from the California Republican Convention at the Century Plaza Hotel last week is that former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore is thinking seriously of entering the 2008 Republican presidential sweepstakes. Jim Gilmore? At 56, the conservative one-time chairman of the Republican National Committee has been out of elective office for five years. Before serving as Virginia’s governor for one four-year term, he had served as the state’s attorney general and, before that, as Henrico County attorney. But until last week, his name had not been even vaguely mentioned among the long list...

LOS ANGELES -- The latest, hottest, and most unanticipated rumor to emerge from the State Republican Convention at the Century Plaza Hotel here was that former Virginia Gov. and Republican National Chairman Jim Gilmore would enter the 2008 Republican presidential sweepstakes. Talk of Gilmore-for-President began as the former governor and staunch conservative arrived in Los Angeles to address the state GOP's top officials. In a fighting luncheon speech, Gilmore call for securing the borders and a Republican agenda of "security, safety, and long-term civil values and freedom." Recalling his stint as head of the RNC in the first Bush Administration,...