The Daily Background

According to The Politico, Jim Gilmore (Virginia’s former Republican governor) is dropping out of the race for the Republican nominiation:

Former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III is dropping his underdog bid for the Republican presidential nomination today, he told The Politico in an interview.

Gilmore said he has been approached about running for Virginia governor a second time, and about running for U.S. Senate if Sen. John W. Warner (R) retires. Gilmore said he will consider both options.
[…]
In the interview, Gilmore said the punishing financial requirements of the early-starting race caused him to decide it was “impractical” to continue. “Because of the front-loading of the primaries, I would have basically had to stop campaigning and spend full time organizing hundreds of people to raise money for me,” he said.

Gilmore took 48 hours to decide this, and his decision comes just as the second quarter fundraising numbers are due at the FEC (July 15th). The Politico reports that “Gilmore raised $170,000 in the first three months of the year and said he collected $211,000 in the quarter ending June 30, while the leading candidates in the race banked millions.” How much you wanna bet that he’ll ultimately get more press for dropping out of the race than he did for getting in it? Gilmore is pegged by the National Journal as in last place on their latest rankings list, released July 2nd.

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