Carol Mosley Braun is not, and has never been, a serious candidate for president. She has almost no staff, no fundraising, no field offices in Iowa and New Hampshire, and no chance at getting the Democratic nomination.
Earlier in the summer Braun said, thankfully, that she will withdraw from the race in September unless her fundraising success picks up in a hurry. In the first six months of 2003, Braun raised just under $250,000, far less than any other candidate. Since no one is contributing to her campaign, I’ve been expecting to hear about her exit strategy any day now.
Instead, buoyed by support from the National Organization for Women (NOW), Braun isn’t planning to drop out of the race, she’s planning to rev up her efforts and formally kick off her campaign on Sept. 22.
(For those of us who thought she had already entered the race, Braun is reminding us that she has been conducting an “exploratory campaign” for the better part of the year.)
Chances are, Braun would have dropped out were it not for the sudden and inexplicable support she received from the nation’s largest and most powerful women’s group.
NOW, for reasons that elude me, endorsed Braun’s candidacy this week and announced that it will encourage its 500,000 members to contribute to Braun’s campaign.
Obviously, I can appreciate the fact that it’s the National Organization for Women and Braun, obviously, is a woman. But NOW is one of the most successful and politically savvy groups in the nation. Its influence in Democratic Party politics has few rivals.
NOW must realize that Braun has no chance of winning the nomination. So why waste the endorsement on a candidate that hardly appears to be trying? Why not let Braun gracefully exit the stage without further embarrassment?