Brownback to Exit Presidential Race

By Rick Moran

Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) will drop out of the race today according to sources close to his campaign.

The two term Senator struggled to raise money and failed to ignite religious conservatives to rally to his cause - two reasons cited by observers for his failed efforts:

Brownback's campaign didn't catch fire," Hurley said. "It's just the field is still so full, and the pool of voters he was most fishing from was almost perfectly split between him and Mike Huckabee."

Hurley said Brownback called him Thursday morning to say he was dropping out. Nationally, Brownback had the support of 1 percent of Republicans in this month's Associated Press-Ipsos poll, after peaking at 3 percent in June.

Besides money, Brownback was hurt because he supports a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, an issue that angers conservatives who influence voting in Iowa and other states that are struggling to provide education, medical care and other services to an influx of immigrants in recent years.

Brownback's endorsement could cary some weight with religious conservatives but he is not expected to throw his support to anyone at his announcement in Topeka today.

While his stance on issues is more in tune with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, he may very well endorse his good friend and Senate colleague John McCain who shares his views on immigration as well as many of his conservative positions on cultural issues.

Brownback has been mentioned as a vice presidential choice - especially if one of the northeasterners Giuliani or Romney win the nomination. But his dropping out even before the Iowa Caucuses hurts his chances as most presidential candidates like to choose someone with a slightly higher profile.