Friday, February 04, 2000
Bauer will quit race today
Newport figured in his campaign
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Gary Bauer, a Newport native and janitor's son thought to be the first Northern Kentuckian to run for the White House, will drop out of the presidential race today.
Mr. Bauer's campaign lasted less than a year. It appeared doomed after Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, when he received just 1 percent of the Republican vote.
“I've talked to some people in the campaign this week, and it's over,” Tete Turner of Newport said Thursday.
Mr. Turner grew up with Mr. Bauer, 52, and was one of his closest friends when the two attended Newport High School in the mid-1960s. He was on the stage with Mr. Bauer when he announced his campaign last April at their alma mater.
“Gary had very, very high hopes in Iowa, and he spent a lot of time there,” Mr. Turner said of the state's political caucuses held last month, in which Mr. Bauer finished fourth.
“Because he was in Iowa so much, he didn't get to spend a lot of time in New Hampshire, and that took a lot of steam out of him,” he said. “He just didn't connect up there. But he was also up against the big boys.”
Mr. Bauer made a name for himself in the 1980s as a member of Ronald Reagan's administration and more recently as head of the Family Research Council, a Washington-based organization that promotes and lobbies for socially conservative causes.
Even though he fared well in debates, particularly in his tough questions and attacks on GOP front-runner George W. Bush, Mr. Bauer's conservative message and overall candidacy never did catch on with voters.
He trailed widely in polls and raised just $7 million, compared with the nearly $70 million raised by Mr. Bush and the $13.6 million raised by Sen. John McCain of Arizona, winner of the New Hampshire GOP primary.
Mr. Bauer did, however, establish himself in the race as a leading voice for socially conservative causes such as opposition to abortion, a stronger national defense, a hard line with China, and no special rights for gays and lesbians.
He also catapulted Newport into the national spotlight with his frequent references to growing up in the tough days of the city when gambling was wide open and his father, Spike, enjoyed many of the vices of the day.
Mr. Bauer returned to Newport late last year to film a campaign commercial in the Park Avenue home where he was raised. The spot did not air locally, but aides have said it paid tribute to his roots.
“One of the things I learned in Newport was that if you're in a fight and at the end of it you're the last guy standing, that means you won. And I intend to be the last guy standing when this thing is over,” Mr. Bauer said during a Veterans Day visit to Newport last year.
True to his Newport heritage, Mr. Bauer took an entourage of supporters and reporters to the Dixie Chili parlor on Monmouth Street the day he announced his candidacy.
“We really enjoyed that. It was great,” Spiros Sarakatsannis said Thursday. His family has operated Dixie Chili for more than 70 years.
“He's a good guy and a good leader, and I still think he can make a contribution in national politics,” Mr. Sarakatsannis said. “I'm sorry to see him go. It was great to have somebody from Newport running for president.”
Local GOP leaders said the party may ask him to campaign for Republicans in Kentucky in the fall.
“It was exciting to have a Northern Kentucky Republican running for president,” said Damon Thayer, vice chairman of the Kentucky Republican Party.
“He made a valiant effort. I would agree with his decision, however, to get out of the race,” Mr. Thayer said.
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is chairing Mr. Bush's campaign in Kentucky, said Thursday that he expects Mr. Bauer to endorse Mr. McCain. Mr. McConnell said the endorsement would have “very little effect.”
Unnamed sources in Mr. Bauer's campaign told the Associated Press Thursday that the announcement would be made this morning.
Harold McMaster, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, said Thursday that Mr. Bauer's campaign had taken his name off the schedule of events that other GOP contenders plan to attend. That state holds its GOP primary Feb. 19.
David Woodard, a political science professor at Clemson University, said he has heard from some of Mr. Bauer's supporters that they are going to support Mr. Bush.
“Gary Bauer, for a while, stood out as this white knight for family values,” Mr. Woodard said Thursday. “But he just couldn't step out in the political arena and has been getting beaten down by the other candidates.”
Repeated phone calls Wednesday and Thursday to Mr. Bauer's northern Virginia campaign headquarters were not returned.
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