Pro-Life GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter Exits Republican Presidential Race Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 20, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Duncan Hunter, the pro-life California congressman who never caught fire in the Republican race, dropped out after not achieving one percent of the vote in the South Carolina primary. He received two percent of the delegates in Nevada, a western state he hoped would help him make a more serious effort at the GOP nomination.
Hunter said his campaign never got the traction he hoped to receive.
"The failure of our campaign to gain traction is mine and mine alone," he said. "But we have driven the issues. Because of that, this campaign has been very worthwhile, and for the Hunter family, a lot of fun."
"We thought we’d do much better in Nevada, but the numbers weren’t there," campaign spokesman Bob Bevill told AP Saturday night. "We were not able to get any traction.
"The media has a ‘vote someone off the island’ mentality and Duncan Hunter was a casualty of that," Bevill added.
Hunter did best in the small Wyoming caucus where he spent most of his time and effort and placed third with 8 percent of the vote.
Last year, Hunter promised pro-life advocates that he would have a pro-life litmus test when it comes to the appointment of federal judges.
"If we have a judicial applicant, a judicial nominee who can look at a sonogram of an unborn child and not see the value of human life … if I should become president of the United States, he will not receive a judicial appointment," Hunter said.
I tell you what you he will receive, he will get an appointment with an optometrist so he can get a pair of eye glasses," Hunter added.