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Posted: October 18, 2007 5:03 PM
Dust in the Wind: Brownback Drops Out
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Four days after reporting low fund-raising figures for the third quarter of 2007 and near last in the polls, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is expected to drop out of the presidential race on Friday, according to various news reports.

Brownback, who had said last week that he would compete in the Iowa primary, never caught on with potential voters, and his stance on immigration was not popular with conservatives. This lack of interest was reflected in the polls, where numbers consistently hovered near 2 percent, and in the campaign kitty, where there wasn’t enough cash to compete with the frontrunners. Even worse, Brownback was unable to rally support among his base of Christian conservatives, who seem to be backing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

“Trouble raising money was a main reason for his decision,” said one person close to Brownback, who requested anonymity because the candidate had not yet announced his plans, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.

In numbers released Monday, Team Brownback reported raising $925,745.22 in the third quarter of 2007, good for seventh among eight Republican candidates. His $94,000 of cash-on-hand was less than of any other candidate.

The news of low fund-raising figures must have come hard for the campaign, as Brownback had been picking up media attention in the last week. His partnership with Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., made most news shows he gave a funny speech at the Jewish Coalition’s Presidential Forum; and he had a positive sit-down with the Boston Globe.

So for the candidate who played Kansas’ ‘Carry On Wayward Son’ on his MySpace page, next might be a run for governor of Kansas in 2010. “Carry on my wayward son / There’ll be peace when you are done,” goes that song.

In the end it was down to money, and now another song by Kansas seems apropos. A line in it goes, “Don’t hang on, nothing last forever but the earth and sky / It slips away, and all your money won’t another minute buy.”