Saturday, June 30, 2012
Proclaiming that thefat lady had sung, political consultantFred Karger ofCalifornia officially ended his campaign forPresidency of the United States on Friday, three days after a last place finish in theUtahRepublican primary. Karger was the first openlygay individual to seek the presidential nomination of a major U.S. political party, and accumulated a total of 12,609 votes in six primary elections.
Karger, who served as a political adviser for several Republican presidents before actively campaigning for LGBT causes, had started his presidential campaign in 2010, but did not officially announce until last year. Throughout 2011, he attempted to appear inGOP presidential debates, but was unable to meet the polling threshold for any; he believed he had qualified for an August debate, but was denied entry after organizers deemed his cited polls as inadequate.
In 2012, Karger appeared on the primary ballots inNew Hampshire,Michigan,Puerto Rico,Maryland,California, and Utah. He had his strongest showing inPuerto Rico, edging CongressmanRon Paul in votes and claiming over one percent of the total. He received his largest vote total in his home state of California, winning 8,268. In the June 26 Utah primary, the final contest before the2012 National convention, Karger finished in fifth place with 0.25 percent, behind former Speaker of the HouseNewt Gingrich, former SenatorRick Santorum, Paul, and formerMassachusettsgovernorMitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee who won with 93 percent of the vote.
In his withdrawal announcement, Karger thanked his supporters and reflected on the campaign as "the experience of a lifetime." He expressed hope that his effort had positively influenced political discourse on the economy, education, LGBT rights, and other issues. He now plans to "rest up for awhile" before getting "back at it to help in the fight for LGBT equality."
Karger did not endorse another candidate for the presidency, and had previously toldWikinews that he had no plans to endorse anyone at the conclusion of his campaign.
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| This article featuresfirst-hand journalism byWikinews members. See thecollaboration page for more details. |
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| This page isarchived, and is no longer publicly editable. Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication. Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to thetalk page along with your corrections, and it will bebrought to the attention of theadministrators. Please note that due to ourarchival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age. The text of this article is licensed under the terms of theCreative Commons Attribution 2.5 License |
