After devastating losses in all 16 Super Tuesday primaries, former Sen. Bill Bradley (D) is expected to bow out of the nominating process today in a press conference at his New Jersey campaign headquarters.
While the Bradley camp would not confirm the candidate's withdrawal officially, many political experts believe retreating from the race is Bradley's only option.
"He's absolutely foolish not to" drop out of the race, said Robert Holsworth, chair of the department of international and public affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University.
"Bradley collapsed," said Larry J. Sabato, professor of government and foreign affairs. "It was so bad that it was embarrassing."
In the early stages of the campaign, Bradley had garnered enough support to be an obstacle to Vice President Al Gore's campaign. But following disappointing voter support in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries, Bradley's supporters began turning to the Gore camp.
"Gore was at first seen as a weak candidate, but as he began to fight back and make arguments, Bradley was not up to the challenge politically," Holsworth said.
Running against the incumbent vice president also proved difficult for Bradley.
"There was no rationale in the Democratic establishment to dump the heir apparent to Bill Clinton," Holsworth said.
Since the Democratic Party establishment was behind Gore almost completely, Bradley focused on gaining support from independent voters. But Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain beat him to the punch and was able to gain a large majority of independent support.
"The only opposition to garnering Independent support was prompted by McCain," Holsworth said. "He went further and was able to gain more support" from independents.
Now that Bradley most likely will drop out from the race, some have discussed a possible vice-presidential position on the Gore ticket. The Gore campaign refused to comment on this matter before Bradley's speech today.
But some experts agree Bradley would not be a viable running mate and will not be asked to join the ticket.
"Bradley doesn't bring much to the table," Holsworth said.
"He ran too poorly," Sabato said. "Had he run better, Gore would have had to ask him."
Bradley's voter base was so small that his exit from the race will not automatically translate into a new wave of support for Gore's campaign. But Bradley said he was proud of the campaign he had run.
"I believe history will write that we tried to change politics, to restore trust and to defeat the politics of expediency," he said in his speech.
McCain also suffered major defeats Tuesday after losing both California and New York to Texas Gov. George W. Bush. These wins bring Bush very close to winning the Republican nomination.
McCain said in his speech Tuesday night that he will reevaluate the future of his campaign after such decisive losses.
"Over the next few days we will take some time to enjoy our victories and take stock of our losses," McCain said.
The McCain campaign could not be reached for comment yesterday.
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