Former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun dropped her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination yesterday. She said her campaign was “unable to compete effectively” and urged supporters to vote for Howard Dean.
“Governor Dean is the candidate best equipped to continue the progress we need to have,” she said yesterday as she stood next to the former Vermont governor in Carroll, Iowa.
Mrs. Moseley Braun — the only woman among nine Democratic presidential candidates — was unable to get her campaign off the ground, political analysts said, and polls showed her support in the low single digits, and around 1 percent in Iowa.
“I don’t believe anyone from the outset thought Braun could be the [Democratic presidential] nominee,” said Morris Reid, a Democratic strategist and former Clinton administration official.
In 1992, Mrs. Moseley Braun became the first black woman elected to the U.S. Senate. After she was defeated by Republican Peter G. Fitzgerald in 1998, she was appointed ambassador to New Zealand by President Clinton.
Yesterday, she attributed her presidential campaign’s difficulties to “funding and organizational disadvantages.” Mrs Moseley. Braun faced a growing campaign debt of about $115,000, according to United Press International. She managed to come in third in Tuesday’s D.C. primary and was registered as a candidate in 21 state primaries or caucuses, more than any previous female presidential candidate.
Mrs. Moseley Braun said she hoped her presidential bid had moved the country forward. “When women run, when people of color run, we open up the possibility that women and people of color can win.”
Supporters agreed that her brief candidacy was significant for the future.
“Ambassador Moseley Braun made a place for herself and all of us at the table of national politics,” said Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women. “NOW pledges to see that her efforts continue to bear fruit.”
Ms. Gandy said the Moseley Braun campaign had a hard time gathering money, simply because her main supporters were women, who are “struggling to make ends meet and juggling work and family obligations.”
But Mr. Reid said even Mr. Dean started out with a narrow band of support and was able to broaden it with an effective message — something Mrs. Moseley Braun did not have.
“She didn’t have a message that resonated with the larger audience,” he said. “Her traditional supporter base was narrow but she didn’t create a message that would have expanded it.”
A lot of people thought she did a great job in the debates,” said Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network. “She was very articulate … credible, thoughtful.”
Mr. Reid agreed Mrs. Moseley Braun was an articulate candidate and that her candidacy was a “moral victory” for minority women. But he said in the end it takes more than being articulate to build a successful national campaign.
Mrs. Moseley Braun has been a vocal critic of the war in Iraq and a strong supporter of universal health care and affirmative action. In her Iowa endorsement speech, she said Mr. Dean will do the best of all the Democratic candidates in creating jobs, defending civil rights, and forming an economy that “works for everyone, regardless of race or sex.”
Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh told Fox News yesterday that Mrs. Moseley Braun’s endorsement of Mr. Dean may help him gain support among black voters in the Feb. 3 South Carolina primary.
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