Quayle Quits but Declines to Rule Out Future Contest

Former Vice President Dan Quayle formally abandoned his quest for the Republican presidential nomination Monday, but even after his poor showing he explicitly declined to rule out a future run for political office.

“There’s a time to stay and there’s a time to fold,” Quayle told reporters gathered in Phoenix, where his campaign was headquartered. “There’s a time to know when to leave the stage.”

With his exit, the Republican field shrinks to eight contenders, seven of them struggling to gain traction against Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who continues to enjoy a commanding lead in both opinion polls and fund-raising.

Throwing out one of the higher estimates, Quayle said, “I was facing a campaign where the front-runner would have up to $100 million to spend, and an unprecedented front-loading of the primary system made the task for me winning the nomination of my party virtually impossible.” So far, Bush has raised around $50 million.

Quayle’s campaign ended more than five months after it was formally launched in his old hometown of Huntington, Ind. Although widely admired in conservatives circles, the former vice president was never able to overcome a reputation for bumbling and questions about his electability, even among those sympathetic to his calls for dramatic tax cuts and policies promoting “traditional family values.”

But it was the money--or rather a lack of it--that did him in, Quayle insisted. “You can have a strong message,” he said, “but you also have to have the resources to get it out.”

Although Quayle has arguably been the most pilloried and parodied politician of the past generation, he indicated he is not ready to walk away from public life.

He concluded his remarks in Phoenix by telling reporters, “I don’t think this will be my last press conference”--a conscious paraphrase, he acknowledged in a later interview, of Nixon’s bitter remarks after losing the 1962 California governor’s race.

At that time, the former vice president told reporters they were attending his last press conference and added, famously, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” He, of course, went on to win the White House six years later.