Braun to Quit Presidential Bid, Back Dean
story.news.yahoo.com
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
FORT DODGE, Iowa - Carol Moseley Braun (news - web sites) plans to end her White House bid Thursday, leaving an all-male field for the presidency and giving her support to Democratic front-runner Howard Dean (news - web sites).
Braun was to officially endorse the former Vermont governor Thursday afternoon during an appearance at Carroll High School in Carroll, Iowa, said Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi.
Dean said Wednesday that he welcomed the endorsement of the former senator from Illinois.
"She's a principled person. We just hit it off. I like her a lot," Dean told reporters at a hotel in Fort Dodge, where he was spending the night after starting a statewide bus tour.
"It's going to be a big help to us," he said.
Trippi said Braun approached Dean after a recent debate and told him she was considering leaving the race and backing him.
One of two black candidates in the campaign, Braun is giving Dean her endorsement even as he has faced questions about his record on race issues, including his lack of minority Cabinet members during his five terms as Vermont governor.
Braun jumped to Dean's defense in a debate last Sunday when Al Sharpton (news - web sites), the other black candidate in the Democratic field, accused the former governor of trivializing race issues.
Braun never broke out of single digits in national and state polls and failed to qualify for several state ballots.
And though she had been endorsed by two influential women's groups — the National Organization for Women (news - web sites) and the National Women's Political Caucus — that support failed to translate into financial support. Braun struggled to raise money while running up thousands of dollars in debt. She also missed the deadline to file paperwork for the initial round of federal campaign money, delaying for several weeks the receipt of any federal matching funds, expected to amount to several hundred thousand dollars,
Even her own campaign manager, Patricia Ireland, had said publicly that there was no way Braun could win the nomination.
She leaves the race after having little impact on it, except for some bright moments in debates. Braun often stressed during the campaign that she was running for president because it was time to "take the 'Men Only' sign off the White House door."
The run for president also may have helped Braun rehabilitate her image. Elected to the Senate in 1992 during the "Year of the Woman," Braun lost the seat after one term due to allegations about her ethics and improper campaign spending.
Braun had also fallen under criticism for meeting in 1996 with Gen. Sani Abacha, the late dictator of Nigeria who had been accused of myriad human rights violations, during a trip to the country for a friend's memorial. She did not tell the State Department in advance, which she later said she regretted not doing.
After losing the seat, President Clinton (news - web sites) named her ambassador to New Zealand.
Braun is the second Democratic presidential candidate to pull out of the race before the start of voting on Jan. 19 with the Iowa caucuses. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida withdrew from the race on Oct. 6.
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