Gore Halts His Campaign but Retains 421 Delegates

WASHINGTON —  Sen. Albert Gore Jr., $1.5 million in debt and winless in any state race in the last six weeks, today halted his campaign for the 1988 Democratic nomination but held on to his 421 delegates.

In a graceful exit, Gore acknowledged that either Michael S. Dukakis or Jesse Jackson will be the party’s nominee and said he will do “everything I can” to help elect a Democrat as the next President.

Gore said he would technically remain a candidate to permit his 421 delegates to attend the Democratic National Convention “so they can represent our point of view in our party’s deliberations.”

But, he said in a room crowded with supporters, “I want no part of a stop Jackson or a stop Dukakis movement. The only man I want to stop is George Bush and we’re going to stop George Bush.”

Gore entered the race at age 39 with the hope of becoming the youngest President ever. He won six states in the March 8 delegate sweepstakes called Super Tuesday but was shut out in the following weeks in the Northern industrial states.

The freshman senator got only 10% of the vote in Tuesday’s New York primary, borrowing about $750,000 for advertising. After he finished a poor third, friends and advisers told him to quit.

‘Was Doing Great’

“I was doing great until I turned 40,” Gore joked at a crowded news conference today.

Gore’s withdrawal leaves only front-runner Dukakis and Jackson as active candidates for the Democratic nomination.

The Tennessee senator praised both men. He said Jackson has “reclaimed our party’s passion for social justice” and that Dukakis has “shown a steady hand through a long and trying campaign.”

“They are both good men and formidable candidates,” he said.

Gore entered the race bidding to emerge as the type of moderate Southern candidate who could permit the Democratic Party to capture Southern states in the fall election.

Nevada aside, virtually his only campaign success came in his native South.