Good morning — and go on with the pursuit of happiness, because former Maryland governor Larry Hogan is not running for president.  To paraphrase the late Del Shannon: "Hats off to Larry, he broke your heart / Just like you broke mine / When you said we must part..."  Yes, it's tough when they say no, isn't it?

Governor Hogan is not running, and here is the story:

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan will not seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, he said Sunday.

"I did give it serious consideration, and I talked to people everywhere, and I talked to my family and it was a tough decision, but I've decided that I will not be a candidate for the Republican nomination for president," Hogan told CBS' Robert Costa during an interview on "Face the Nation."

YouTube screen grab.

The reality is that Mr. Hogan never had a chance for a place on the ticket or even turning into the Spiro Agnew of 2024.  Back in 1968, GOP presidential candidate Richard Nixon shocked the world by picking Governor Agnew of Maryland as his running mate.  It did not work well in 1968, when Maryland voted for V.P. Humphrey, and it did not matter in 1972, when President Nixon carried 49 states.

Now many are saying that Mr. Hogan took one for the country.  In other words, he wants to stay out so that you don't see a repeat of 2016, when it seemed that everybody was running for president.  In other words, let's keep it down to a couple of candidates so that former president Trump does not win the nomination with 30% of the primary vote.

My guess is that Mr. Hogan would have been a single-digit candidate at best and would have dropped out early.  Hogan had no message or ideas on a stage dominated by the likes of Trump, DeSantis, or even a Youngkin.  Hogan's hands were tied by a partisan Democrat Legislature, from bad public schools to crime in Baltimore.

So good luck to Mr. Hogan.  It's a shame that he did not run for the U.S. Senate and give the GOP a chance to win that seat.

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