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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Hatch Expected to Quit Today
Associated Press 25Jan00 N2
By Ron Fournier: AP Political Writer
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Utah Senator Orrin Hatch delayed the news
conference scheduled for yesterday to today, and is expected to
announce that he is withdrawing from the presidential race, according
to senior advisors to Hatch. "We've all seen the numbers,'' said an
aide.
Hatch managed to get just 1 percent of the vote in the Iowa Caucuses
on Monday night. He entered the campaign late, and had hoped to get
much broader support. But analysts say that his four terms in the
U.S. Senate and Judiciary Committee chairmanship experience were not
enough to convince voters to switch to supporting him.
Religion may also play a part in the lack of support. Hatch was
trying hardest to get the support of Christian conservatives, but an
anti-mormon bias among them may have cost him votes, "Some of these
people have an absolutely loony belief that Mormons aren't
Christian,'' Hatch said last Friday. "There's some misapprehensions
and some miscomprehension about my faith.''
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