Bauer to drop out of presidential race

WASHINGTON (AP) - Gary Bauer plans to drop out of the presidential race today after a campaign in which he made his conservative points in debates but failed to win enough voter support in the crowded Republican field.

He would be the sixth GOP candidate to cut short his White House dreams this year, leaving four still in the race.

"Gary is having a news conference on Friday. That's all we're saying about it," spokesman Tim Goeglein said. Bauer was announcing his withdrawal, an official close to him said.

Bauer, a janitor's son who served in President Reagan's White House, gained some attention in the presidential debates, needling front-runner George W. Bush on abortion and China policy. He also had some success raising money, primarily through a network of donors built during his work as a conservative activist in Washington.

Yet he was unable to carve out a constituency of supporting voters in a GOP field that featured other conservatives as well.

He could not climb above 1 percent in the critical New Hampshire primary.

Bauer struggled to make even a dent in national polls, and finished in fifth place in the Iowa caucuses, ahead of only Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who has since dropped out of the race, and right behind Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who did not campaign in Iowa.

Bush, McCain, publisher Steve Forbes and former ambassador Alan Keyes are the remaining GOP candidates.

The others who have dropped out are Hatch, Lamar Alexander, Dan Quayle, Elizabeth Dole and John Kasich.