Vilsack Holds a Teleconference on His Announcement

VILSACK: Thank you all for spending a few minutes with us this afternoon.

When I first began considering running for president, my wife Christie likened it to Magellan's efforts. She suggested that the boat was at the dock, it was loaded, it was ready to go, and the question would be whether or not you'd get in the boat and see what you could see about the world or whether you would walk away from the boat.

We made the decision to get in the boat, to participate, to be in the arena. And the reality is, it's time to bring the boat back to the dock and to end this presidential campaign.

So this morning we announced in front of staff and local press my decision to withdraw from the race.

There are a number of people, obviously, that need to be thanked, which I have done: my family, my friends, most importantly the staff in this process has done an extraordinary job.

We were prepared and poised to win the Iowa caucus, there's no question in my mind about that, and prepared to do quite well, I believe, in New Hampshire.

But the reality is that the process today, as much as I would like to have been about my ideas, the right approach on the war in Iraq, in my view, the most comprehensive and most innovative approach to the domestic challenge that this country faces in terms of energy policy, is not enough. I ran up against something where good ideas, great effort, lots of hard work was just simply not enough.

It is ultimately about money. And the reality is that we were unable to raise the resources that would have allowed us to expand our great organization in Iowa and the beginnings of our organization in New Hampshire and to other states.

VILSACK: And with other states considering moving up the calendar, the premium on money became even more compelling.

My hope is that the candidates who stay in this race -- and particularly as it relates to Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- do participate in retail politics, where they go into people's living rooms, travel down the Main Streets of small communities and visit with real people in a meaningful and concrete way.

I told this story at the ASCME forum in Reno, about the 5-year- old young fellow that I met in Seattle, who expressed and asked of me whether a hundred more troops in Iraq would make a difference or whether a thousand more troops in Iraq would make a difference.

And when I explained to him that it wouldn't, he looked at me and simply said, "I'm frightened every day."

And that is not the America that I want. I don't want 5-year-old children in this country to be frightened. I want us to have the courage to create necessary change in this country, to be an inspiring and challenging nation, as America was intended to be.

And that's the kind of conversation you have when you retail politic. You may not have that conversation if it's about large crowds and the pomp and ceremony that goes with large crowds.

Walter Mondale, when I started this process, suggested to me that I would learn a lot about the nation and I would learn a lot about myself. And he was absolutely correct about that.

Not only did I learn where I was born but, more importantly, I learned, again, what a fantastic and phenomenal country this is, and how many great people there are in the United States and how deeply people care about our country and its future, and the next generation of Americans.

VILSACK: And I hope that this campaign without my presence focuses on that.

You know, there's a saying that Teddy Roosevelt once said about folks. Some may suggest that I've failed in this endeavor. I don't see it that way. I just didn't succeed as far as I wanted to.

But if, indeed, someone wants to characterize it as failing, as Roosevelt said, "At least if you fail, you fail while daring greatly. So your place shall never be with those cold, timid souls that knew neither victory nor defeat." I've known both, and I'm better for it.

MODERATOR: All right, thank you, Tom.

We'll open it up for a few questions now.

QUESTION: Hi, Governor. Will you endorse anyone in this race?

VILSACK: You know, today my focus and my heart and my head is not on endorsements or other candidates. My focus is on staff members who have been so loyal to me and supporters who have been so loyal.

We want to make sure our staff members have opportunities, whatever they might need or want. And we want to make sure that the supporters understand how appreciative we are of the support that they've given.

And we're going to take some time and reflect, but today's not the day to talk about that.

QUESTION: Governor, in your deliberations, did you come up with a ballpark figure of how much money it would take to compete in this campaign?

VILSACK: I didn't come up with a ballpark figure other than the fact that it was pretty clear that I wasn't going to be able to raise the money, whatever that number was, to be as competitive as I think I would have needed to be.

This is a very expensive process. And we did our best. And the people we talked to were supportive.

VILSACK: We just couldn't -- didn't have enough time to talk to enough people to raise the resources.

So, you know, I think the amount of money it's going to take is somewhat dependent upon the nature of the race from this point forward and how many people continue to stay in it and the characteristics of the race and whether or not these states like California, Florida and Texas push up their primary; if they do, then, obviously, you're talking about a significant sum of money -- tens of millions of dollars.

QUESTION: Governor Vilsack, I'm here in Mt. Pleasant, your hometown. This has been the base of your support for a while.

I wanted to know if you had anything you wanted to say to residents of your old hometown on this day. And also, can we expect to be seeing more of you around here now?

VILSICK: I appreciate the question.

You know, first of all, you don't get into a race like this without knowing that you've got the support, love and friendship of people back home. And that has meant, and will continue to mean a great deal to me, to Christie, to Jess and Doug.

I'm really proud of my hometown. I'm proud of the values that the people of Mt. Pleasant have given me and the support they've given me throughout my political career.

I know that there's, perhaps, a sense of disappointment today. And I, obviously, have to live with that. But I'm proud of our effort and I hope the people back home as well.

QUESTION: Governor, what changes would you suggest we make to the process to improve it? Anything in terms of regional primaries or other ways to confront this emphasis on the money?

VILSACK: You know, I haven't had an opportunity to really reflect in detail or depth about this because I've been, obviously, all been trying to raise the money.

VILSACK: I would say that, you know, the process of publicly financing campaigns needs to be looked at and needs to be considered as an alternative, or creating a mechanism by which there's no real incentive to work outside the system or to raise money outside the system.

You know, if there were a level playing field among those who were entered in a race, then it would be about ideas and the strength of ideas and the challenging nature of your ideas, and I think that the country and the nation would be better for it.

So, you know, that's my take today. Upon reflection, I may have a more substantive, more detailed response to that question.

But I would say you have to look for a system that doesn't reward people moving outside the system or a publicly-financed system that focuses on ideas, not on fund-raising capabilities.

QUESTION: Hi, Governor.

In 2004, you were on the short list of vice presidential nominees. Could you talk a little bit about that? Do you think you will be on that list again? Will you want to be on that list again? Has this process changed your mind at all on this?

VILSACK: You know, to be honest with you, that's about the furthest thing from my mind today.

I've got a great wife and two sons who are struggling through today. And, you know, honestly, I'm not thinking about the future in terms of politics.

I just want to make sure that the people that cared about me, and worked for me, and sacrificed for me and changed their lives for me understand how appreciative I am of what they've done.

Even if this was a short campaign, we did raise the bar on the war, and I think we moved the debate to a different place. And we clearly raised serious interest and challenges in terms of our energy policy, which I hope other campaigns will embrace and work on and make part of their campaigns.

So right now, my heart and my head is with those people that I care most about.

VILSACK: It's not about my future.

QUESTION: Good afternoon, Governor. Best to you and Christie.

Can you talk a little bit from your unique perspective of having been a governor of the first-in-the-nation caucus state, on what the frontloading has meant to the race for cash and the sort of evident, disqualifying nature of it?

As I'm sure you know your successor in Iowa and the governor of New Hampshire are going to be talking about what should be done from the first-in-the-nation status coming up soon, what your recommendations might be to them, as well as to the other candidates when it comes to where the process now stands in the seeming, sort of, national primary that heads up February 5th.

And nice following you this year, sir. Thanks very much.

VILSACK: I appreciate it. Thank you.

You know, to a certain extent, the frontloading process that we appear headed toward will place a significant premium and importance on the early primaries, as it relates to narrowing the field, if you will, for February 5th, if that, indeed, is the date that people move to.

And so there's still going to be a continuing emphasis, as I believe there ought to be, on those first three or four states.

The challenge will be for the candidates who remain in this race to recognize the significance and importance of the retail aspect of politics in these first states; the ability to go into Main Street businesses, into coffeeshops, into livingrooms; the kinds of stuff that maybe the national media may not see as much of a benefit of, but it's that kind of thing that I think allows the nation to take a measure of the person running for office.

And I think, most importantly of all, it educates the candidates as to what really is on the minds and hearts of Americans.

When a 5-year-old child says to a candidate for president, "I'm frightened every day," you know, that makes an impression on you. And it colors and focuses you on issues that you might not have been aware of in quite that stark a way if you went to a convention center where there were 3,000 people.

So my hope is that the campaigns understand the significance and importance of that to the nation and to themselves, as candidates.

You know, I had a unique perspective on this war, as a governor making phone calls to people who lost loved ones. You know, that's a unique perspective, and it gives you a different attitude and a different take on all of this, and it informs you.

VILSACK: Obviously, as the large states move up, they don't necessarily diminish the importance of the early states, but they sure emphasize and escalate and elevate the importance of money generally.

And at the end of the day it's not about hard work or effort or good ideas, it's about money. And, you know, got to be more than that.

QUESTION: Could you tell us a bit about the last 48 hours?

I mean, it was not even 48 hours ago that you were on a stage in Carson City, you were making the rounds, you were talking to political activists. All indications were that you were proceeding, to use the cliche, full steam ahead with your campaign, and now you're withdrawing. So what happened in the interim?

VILSACK: The recognition that our campaign was not going to be able to raise the resources that would allow me to be as competitive as I wanted to be on the articulation of ideas and a vision for this country.

It's not enough just simply to be a candidate. You want to make a difference. And the reality is that if you don't have the resources, that you go in debt, it makes it difficult to make a difference.

QUESTION: But, if I may, was it, like, on the plane home from Reno, that someone opened up the ledger? Or, you know, a little bit on the process of how you came to that realization, if you could.

VILSACK: It's been ongoing for the last several weeks.

And the realization was that the more campaign continued, the deeper the debt and responsibility was, number one. And number two -- and this is probably even more important than the debt, in my mind, and that is that you've got staffers, young people particularly, who have changed their lives, disrupted themselves, picked themselves up from other states and put themselves here.

VILSACK: And they really deserve an opportunity, if they want, to participate. And now's probably a more opportune time for them to find opportunity than it would be a month from now or two months from now or three months from now.

So it's a combination of the debt and concern for the staff.

QUESTION: Governor, we're disappointed, of course, that you've had to drop out, especially because of that reason. But how do you see yourself as far as keeping involved in Iowa politics?

VILSACK: You know, I said to this to the staff earlier today. When you're the child of an alcoholic, just about the worst thing is when you've disappointed people.

And I know that there are probably people out there in the state that are disappointed that we weren't able to continue. And I'll have to live with that.

You know, I don't know today what my role, if any, will be. I'm proud of the record that I accomplished as governor, and proud of the work that the Democratic legislature is doing, today, in Iowa.

And I think I've had a part in allowing them that opportunity, to raise the minimum wage and to have an anti-bullying legislation that's going to protect kids of all kinds.

So, you know, obviously, I'll look for opportunities to make a difference. But today I don't honestly know what that will be, because my focus has been solely and completely on trying to stop the war in Iraq and trying to get this country focused on the domestic agenda that could lead us to a much brighter and better future.

MODERATOR: Thank you, everybody, for getting on the call.

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