Rep. Schroeder Tearfully Says She Won’t Run

Rep. Patricia Schroeder of Colorado tearfully bowed out of the 1988 presidential race Monday, telling stunned hometown supporters that her late start dashed all hope of capturing the Democratic nomination.

“I cannot run a campaign that would let you down,” she told a noon rally in Denver’s Civic Park, her family flanking her beneath an arch of blue and yellow balloons in a sun-washed Greek amphitheater.

Schroeder, 47, did not immediately endorse any of the party’s six remaining contenders and rejected the possibility of becoming a candidate for vice president by responding: “Are you kidding?”

Her decision came after a four-month exploratory campaign that failed to raise even half of the $2-million goal she had set, despite an early pledge of $350,000 from the National Organization for Women.

Warmly Received

Nevertheless, the eight-term congresswoman appeared to be warmly received and widely respected as she stumped across the country, promising voters “a rendezvous with reality.”

Even before her exploratory campaign, she found her way into the headlines with quotable quips; she is the one who coined the term “Teflon presidency” to describe the Reagan Administration.

Departing from her usual, breezy ad-lib style, Schroeder read haltingly from a prepared speech Monday and was visibly moved by the cheers of about 500 to 700 supporters hoisting placards that read: “She wins. We win.”

“I could not figure out how to run,” she said. For a few moments she was overcome, and took a white handkerchief from her husband to dab at her eyes. “There must be a way, but I haven’t figured it out.”

“I could not bear to turn every human contact into a photo opportunity,” she said, as schoolchildren in the crowd chanted: “Pat, Pat, Pat!”

She lamented the political process that forces candidates for party nominations to target delegates rather than individual voters in many states, saying she had neither the heart nor the political machinery to join a game already well in progress.

Schroeder declared that she “could have run and could have won” on a purely popular vote. “I could not find any way that we could really run the kind of campaign I wanted to run if we were targeting delegates and still trying to talk to people, which is what keeps me going as a human being,” she said.

Various polls had regularly ranked Schroeder in the middle of the Democratic field, and she told Monday’s rally that she took particular pride in being viewed in polls as the candidate most people would want to buy a used car from.

‘Got Me in the Gut’

“Tears ran down my face,” Denver artist Cynthia Weinberg said after the rally. “We need an honest, earthy leader, and other than Pat, I can’t think of anyone else who fits that description. She just really got me in the gut. She’d make a damn good President.”

Schroeder’s snappy, upbeat style briefly brought zest to a Democratic field that she has likened to “a bowl of unset Jello.”

It is unclear how her retreat will affect the Democratic race, but it may signal fresh support for Gov. Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts, a liberal whose early commitment from some anti-nuclear and feminist camps may have thinned the ranks of potential Schroeder followers.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, campaigning in Des Moines, said he regretted Schroeder’s decision but indicated that he expected to gain from it. “It puts an even greater burden on my campaign to keep the issues of jobs and peace and justice alive. So I will certainly seek her support,” he said.

‘Symbolic Mold’

Times political analyst William Schneider disagreed with Schroeder’s assertion that it is too late to get into the 1988 race but said that, if she had decided to run, “she would have trouble breaking out of the symbolic mold.”

“There was no reason for people to support her other than as a woman,” he said. “If she were a man, there would be no reason for her to run for President. She has no record in Congress that would automatically propel her to the presidency.”

Schneider said the six male Democrats in the running suffer from a similar lack of luster.

“I think she would have done respectably if she did run and she would have been a good candidate. I’m sorry she’s not running,” Schneider said. “But the one thing that defined her as a candidate was being a woman.”

Throughout her exploratory foray, Schroeder repeatedly asserted that she would not run “as a woman” but only as an electable mainstream candidate. She denied Monday that the sexist factor played any significant role in her decision.

“We’re in a transitional stage,” she said, adding that she perceived a growing trend while campaigning of being regarded more and more as “a candidate who is a woman rather than a women’s candidate.”

NOW President Molly Yard expressed disappointment over Schroeder’s decision and said the feminist movement is not likely to endorse any other candidate now in the field.

Yard accused the media and political pundits, including Schneider, of sexism in dealing with Schroeder’s possible candidacy.

“They dismiss her as a woman,” Yard said. “It’s so belittling. It’s demeaning. It’s insulting. They can’t treat her as the competent candidate which she is. If you look at the polls in this country, she’s totally in the mainstream.”

Democratic pollster and political analyst Paul Maslin of Hickman, Maslin Research described Schroeder as an experienced, well-qualified and articulate candidate whose main hurdle was an organizational one.

“It’s a tremendous task to take on in a short period of time--filing delegates, raising money, getting organizations in place in Iowa and New Hampshire,” Maslin said.

“She’s the only candidate--except for maybe (New York Gov.) Mario Cuomo--who could even consider running this late,” and the attention and experience have “done nothing but help Pat Schroeder’s future,” he said.

Four blocks from the sunny park where Schroeder’s dream died, supporter Patty Shaw still carried the yellow placard boasting: “She wins. We win.”

“I cried; the woman next to me cried, and the little boy sitting next to her cried,” Shaw said. “We hoped against hope that she’d run, but I guess the party politics were against her.

“We’ll just watch for her in four years.”

Times researcher Dallas Jamison also contributed to this story.