Kemp to Exit Race, House, Source Says
Jack Kemp, after finishing a poor fourth in the Super Tuesday races, scheduled a news conference Thursday to announce that he is ending his quest for the GOP nomination, a source said today.
A source close to the New York congressman said he will end his presidential campaign at a Washington news conference scheduled for 8 a.m. PST Thursday, less than 10 months after it was formally begun.
He will not endorse any other candidate and is not expected to seek reelection to his congressional seat where he has represented his district near Buffalo for the last 18 years, the source said.
Kemp, the one-time darling of the conservative movement, huddled with his family and advisers in Washington and was not available for comment.
Total of 34 Delegates
Kemp, who got no better than 7% of the vote in any of Tuesday’s primaries and picked up only four delegates for a total of 34, kept out of public view as Super Tuesday voters designated him their last choice. Aides said then that he would be reassessing his candidacy.
Despite his early hopes that his candidacy would catch fire with the party’s right wing, Kemp, 52, went into the 1988 early presidential primaries and caucuses stalled in the polls and far behind the GOP’s top contenders--Vice President George Bush and Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas.
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