After multiple launches and relaunches, Beto O’Rourke announced today that he will be dropping out. The New York Times reports:
“Former Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas is dropping out of the presidential race, ending a campaign in which he struggled for months to recapture the energy of his insurgent 2018 Senate candidacy on a national stage full of other big personalities and liberal champions.
Mr. O’Rourke made the decision to quit the race in the middle of this week, on the eve of a gathering Friday of Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa, according to people familiar with his thinking. He is not expected to run for any other office in 2020, despite persistent efforts by party leaders and political donors to coax him into another bid for the Senate.
His campaign has been under extreme financial strain, and Mr. O’Rourke’s advisers concluded that proceeding in the race might have meant making deep cuts to his staff in order to pay for advertising and other measures to compete in the early primary and caucus state. …
Since then, Mr. O’Rourke has campaigned doggedly on issues related to guns and race, calling most notably for federal gun-control policies that would require owners of assault-style weapons to surrender them to the government. That’s a far more aggressive stance than most Democratic presidential candidates have endorsed. …”
It turns out that gun confiscation is not popular even among Democrat primary voters. Although, I suspect that the coup de grâce was Beto calling to take away tax exempt status from churches or religious organizations that do not recognize same sex marriage. A position that – as Bill Maher pointed out – probably does not sit well black church goers and without their support Democrats don’t have a prayer at the polls.
I never could understand the rationale behind Beto’s candidacy. Why was he running for president? His experience? Accomplishments? Fresh policy ideas? Apparently, Beto also struggled to find a rationale and finally realized none existed.
O’Rouke is not alone as far as not having a reason – beyond personal ambition – to run for president. The other Texan in the race, Julian Castro, will soon head for the exit door.
