Perhaps the biggest lack of a surprise in the campaign for the Republican nomination occurred moments ago:
Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons blamed a lack of campaign cash for his withdrawal from the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.
“I am doing this for one reason and one reason only — and that is simply the lack of funds to move forward,” Gibbons said at a Nashville news conference minutes ago.
The Shelby County district attorney general said his campaign strategy called for a total budget of $2.5 million — considerably less than his rivals, according to the Associated Press. But he said he has twice failed to reach an interim goal of $1 million. The current fundraising period ends Wednesday.
“We have no reasonable prospect of paying for any media campaign, a necessity for success in this race,” Gibbons said in a statement, AP reports.
One has to feel for Bill Gibbons because it seems that the only Republican east of Memphis who wasn't aware that Bill Gibbons didn't have a snowball's chance in Hades was Gibbons himself. It was painfully obvious to me that Gobbons was not in it to win it at last July's Statesmen's dinner, when receptions for both Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam and 3rd District Congressman Zach Wamp were well-attended, while Gibbons' event-though not exactly a poor draw-was kind of an afterthought. Lt. Governor Ramsey, Wamp, and Haslam each managed to generate a lot of excitement Statewide, while Gibbons' presence in the race caused talk that he was inadvertantly aiding the two non-Haslams.
None of that is to say that Gibbons did not intend to give the campaign the best that he could, but it is doubtful that he wanted to remain the placeholder candidate who was simply helping others, rather than having a real shot at the Republican nomination himself.
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