Jim Gilmore 2008 presidential campaign

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JIM GILMORE FOR PRESIDENT
Springfield, VA
Key peopleKieran Mahoney (National Consultant)
Danny Adams (Treasurer)
ReceiptsUS$0.358 (2007-01-31)
Website
Gilmore For President

The 2008 presidential campaign of

2008 Virginia Senatorial race, which he lost to Democrat Mark Warner.[1]

Early stages

2008 Presidential candidate Jim Gilmore taking questions during a 2004 National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee meeting

In August 2006, an effort arose to convince Jim Gilmore to run for president of the United States in 2008. The volunteers cited Gilmore's past experiences as qualifications for the job including his service as a counter-intelligence officer for the U.S. army, his post of attorney general of Virginia, his services as chairman of the Gilmore Commission and the National Council on Readiness and Preparedness, as well as his role as president of the non-profit homeland security think-tank USA Secure.[2]

Gilmore decided to listen to the draft efforts, and weighed a possible presidential run when he became the sixth Republican to enact an exploratory committee on January 10, 2007. During his announcement, Gilmore cast himself as a "mainstream Reagan conservative that has always kept his promises" alluding to his record of tax cuts as Governor of Virginia.[3]

On March 14, Gilmore attended his first forum along with other, mostly Democratic presidential candidates. The meeting addressed the International Association of Fire Fighters labor union. Gilmore discussed how his policies as president would "be supportive of the troops" in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that he agreed with the policy for a troop surge in Iraq. Gilmore received no applause from the crowd after making the latter comment.[4]

At the end of March, it was revealed that Gilmore had raised $200,000 for his exploratory committee.[5]

Early in April, Gilmore coined the term "Rudy McRomney" to describe the three Republican frontrunners, whom he labeled as liberals during a forum in Des Moines, Iowa.[6] On April 16, ten days prior to his official announcement, polling results revealed that Gilmore hovered between 1% and 2% support among the Republican electorate. A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that Gilmore was in twelfth place among Republicans with 1% of participants, compared to 0% in February and 1% in January. Somewhat promising results showed that among Newt Gingrich supporters, Gilmore had 2% support; up from 0% in February.[7]

Campaign developments

On April 26, 2007, Gilmore announced his candidacy for president via webcast on his campaign website. He described this method of communication as the "wave of the future" through which he could "talk directly to the people as [he] develop[ed] the campaign."

dark horse candidate it would be beneficial for him to take advantage of the internet as a campaign tool to reach larger audiences without the cost associated with travel.[6]

Gilmore speaking during the first GOP debate

On May 3, Gilmore participated in the first televised GOP debate featured on

National Identification Card, and highlighted the need to be "vigorous on the war on terror", focus on homeland security, and become energy independent in the next presidency.[8]

Gilmore participated in his second debate on May 15 in

African-American churches, which gave him a good standing with the African-American community in his own judgment.[9]

On May 18, Gilmore appeared on the MSNBC program

This Week and continued the strategy of attacking his opponents in the race for president. On the show, he criticized the credentials of former Senator and potential candidate Fred Thompson of Tennessee. He reminded the audience that Thompson is "a one-term senator" and that "he's well known because of his Law & Order appearance. But the question is, is there a solid, consistent record there of supporting conservative principles?"[11]

Gilmore at a campaign event in Des Moines, April 2007

Gilmore participated in his final debate on June 5 in

conservationist principles, he answered that he believed it could be a part of the platform because "energy independence ... is a national security issue" which serves the interests of Conservatives by preserving a "clean society that is also safe and secure for the nation."[12]

On June 17, Gilmore was featured as the spotlight guest on CNN. He discussed economic policies of the

Bush Administration that he disagreed with including "the prescription drug program", but he applauded the president's record on cutting taxes and stated that the handling of the economy was "not the source of the president's unpopularity." He assessed that "there are other areas" that have caused the low polling numbers including "the Iraq war". He confirmed that he was "very uncomfortable with" the handling of the war, but strongly disagreed with some Democratic leaders who called for a timetable for withdrawal. He argued that these politicians were "not taking the best interest of this country (The United States) into effect."[13]

Later in June, Fox News did a report on the families of the candidates running for president. Jim Gilmore's family was described as being busy with school and employment, limiting them from full-time campaigning. Two of the candidate's sons, Ashton and Jay were examined for the report. Ashton Gilmore worked full-time for his father's campaign headquarters, and Jay Gilmore worked in Washington and was only able to campaign as his schedule allowed.[14] In election polling, unpromising results surfaced for the Gilmore campaign. In a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, Gilmore failed to register half a percentage point among Republican voters.[15] A grimmer portrait was painted for the campaign when end of the month finances revealed it was nearly broke with only $61,765 cash on hand from the $391,693 that had been raised overall.[16]

Early in July, Gilmore was rushed to the emergency room after suffering from vision problems. He was immediately hospitalized and compelled to undergo surgery after he was diagnosed with a

detached retina. Gilmore's campaign was stalled as the candidate was ordered by doctors to restrict travel for an indefinite period. The doctors revealed that Gilmore's vision problems could have deteriorated to the loss of eyesight.[17]

On July 14, Gilmore ended his campaign citing a late start, which "made it impractical to continue to pursue this path towards further public service". The withdrawal was tied to a lack of funds and his diagnosis of a detached retina, which cut short at least a week of scheduled campaign appearances. In his final address of the campaign, Gilmore stated:

I have come to believe that it takes more than a positive vision for our nation's future to successfully compete for the presidency. I believe that it takes years of preparation to put in place both the political and financial infrastructure to contest what now amounts to a one-day national primary in February.[18]

Campaign staff

Gilmore selected Kieran Mahoney to serve as the national consultant of the campaign. He was employed as the managing partner of Mercury Public Affairs, and worked on

1992 Senatorial campaign.[19]

Tom Bunnell served as Gilmore's deputy campaign manager. He previously served as the campaign manager for

1994 Senatorial run.[19]

Gilmore's policy director was Dick Leggitt who previously served as the consultant on Gilmore's 1997 gubernatorial campaign. Director of Administrative Affairs was Egan Crover, who was formally a Legislative Aide to Maryland Senator Richard F. Colburn.

George Allen's 1991 congressional campaign, and served as the Virginia state coordinator for President George H. W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign. Josi worked on Dan Quayle's 1999 campaign for president and Gilmore's 1997 gubernatorial run. Troy Bishop served as the Iowa campaign director for Gilmore's campaign.[19]

Endorsements

Aftermath

Following his presidential campaign, Gilmore announced on November 19, 2007 that he had begun a campaign to fill the United States Senate seat of retiring Republican Senator

potential candidate for president in 2008.[1] Gilmore would later lose the race to Warner in a landslide.[20]

On February 9, 2008, Gilmore endorsed presumptive Republican Party nominee John McCain for the presidency. In a statement, Gilmore described McCain as "a proven conservative leader with a track record of cutting taxes, eliminating wasteful government spending, upholding our traditional values and promoting a strong national defense."

presidential bid for the 2016 election
, but dropped out on February 12, 2016.

References

  1. ^ a b Bob Lewis (2007-11-19). "Gilmore Announces 2008 U.S. Senate Bid". ABC News. Archived from the original on September 19, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  2. ^ "List of GOP Presidential Hopefuls Grows". National Liberty Journal. Retrieved 2008-03-24. [dead link]
  3. ^ Bob Lewis (2007-01-09). "Ex-Gov. Gilmore Eyes GOP White House Bid". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
  4. ^ "Presidential Hopefuls Vow Improvements in Military Health Care to Firefighters Union". Fox News. 2007-03-14. Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  5. ^ a b Mike Glover (2007-04-26). "Gilmore Enters GOP Presidential Race". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  6. ^ a b Thomas Beaumont (2007-04-26). "Gilmore officially enters 2008 race". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2007-09-16. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  7. ^ "Washington Post-ABC News Poll". Washington Post. 2007-04-16. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  8. ^ "The Republicans' First Presidential Candidates Debate". New York Times. 2007-05-03. Archived from the original on 2009-04-25. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  9. ^ "Republican Debate Transcript, South Carolina". Council on Foreign Relations. 2007-05-15. Archived from the original on 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  10. ^ "Tucker for May 18th, 2007, MSNBC". Access my Library. 2007-05-18. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  11. ^ "10 Republicans on stage but room for more, Huckabee says". CNN. 2007-05-28. Retrieved 2008-03-24. [dead link]
  12. ^ "2007 GOP debate at St. Anselm College, Manchester N.H., June 5, 2007, moderated by CNN's Wolf Blitzer". On the Issues. June 5, 2007. Archived from the original on January 7, 2010. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
  13. ^ "CNN Newsroom". CNN. 2007-06-17. Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  14. ^ "Candidates and Their Families". USA Today. 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
  15. ^ "Poll: Bloomberg could have Perot-like effect". CNN. 2007-06-25. Archived from the original on 2007-12-21. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  16. ^ a b c "Jim Gilmore". CNN. Archived from the original on 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  17. ^ "Detached Retina Forces Jim Gilmore Off Campaign Trail". Fox News. 2007-07-02. Archived from the original on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  18. ^ "Jim Gilmore ends Republican presidential bid". USA Today. 2007-07-17. Archived from the original on 2007-08-18. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  19. ^ a b c "Key People-Former Gov. Jim Gilmore (R-VA)". George Washington University. 2007-05-02. Archived from the original on 2008-03-05. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  20. ^ "Virginia GOP Rep. Goode Defeated in Late-Decided Election". Fox News. 2008-11-24. Archived from the original on 2009-03-09. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
  21. ^ Sean Lengell (2008-02-10). "Gilmore endorses GOP front-runner McCain". Washington Times. Retrieved 2008-03-24.

External links

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