Kerry to Drop Out of the 2008 White House Race

By Cricket Frog, Special BS Detector


WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. John Kerry, announced Wednesday he will drop out of the race for president in 2008.

Kerry, 64, made the announcement on the Senate floor at the end of a lengthy speech on Iraq. He briefly choked up.

"We came close ... certainly close enough to be tempted to try again," the Massachusetts senator said, recalling his defeat.

"There are powerful reasons to want to continue that fight now. But I have concluded this isn't the time for me to mount a presidential campaign."

Wiping away a tear, Kerry further explained "I was out of it [the race] before I was in it, so I decided to drop out."

Fellow democrats cited his botched joke about how only people too stupid to get into college ended up fighting in Iraq. Kerry apologized, then hastily scrapped several days of campaigning for fellow Democrats as party leaders urged him to avoid becoming an unwanted issue in a campaign they were on the way to winning.

At the same time, he worked to keep his presidential hopes alive. Aides said he campaigned in 35 states and has an active online community of more than 3 million people and has $12.5 million in his campaign bank account, advantages for any presidential contender.

Officials said Kerry would seek a new six-year term in the Senate in 2008. The fourth-term lawmaker and decorated Vietnam War veteran said he would return to the senate to devote his fifth term to being an Easter Island statue.

A Kerry aide who requested anonymity said that Jon Corzine had privately told Kerry "I'll buy you a governorship should your next senate bid fall short."