Politics

Quayle On Trail Of GOP Grail

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 8, 1999 / 3:16 PM EDT / CBS

Former Vice President Dan Quayle made it official on Wednesday by formally declaring his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000.

Quayle's platform for the announcement was a noontime rally in his hometown of Huntington, where he's kicked off every campaign since he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976.

Quayle is part of a crowded field of 10 declared or potential Republican presidential candidates. His strengths include his popularity among social conservatives and his ability to raise money.

"My friends, we must not stand by and let our values be trashed. I say, starting in this town, in this place, at this hour, we fight back," Quayle told a crowd of about 6,000 in the Huntington North High School gym.

Quayle compared his campaign to the movie Hoosiers, in which a small town Indiana basketball team wins a state championship.

He promised to continue to "fly the battle flag" for the American family.

"For more than 20 years, I've been fighting for our values, standing up for the American family. I've taken the hits, but in life it's not whether you get knocked down. It's whether you get back up and keep on fighting," he said.

Quayle faces an uphill battle almost 10 months before any of the Republican primaries. He trails the frontrunners in the polls and some party faithful have questioned whether he can win the White House.

"People in our party are hungry to win this presidential election, and I think some of them, even though they probably agree with 98 percent of everything Dan Quayle says, wonder if he can win or not because of the image that he portrays," said Indiana GOP chairman Mike McDaniel.

Quayle has already lost the support of some local party bigwigs to Texas Gov. George Bush. Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith has already signed on with Bush's campaign, as has former state party chair Allan B. Hubbard, who served as Quayle's deputy chief of staff. He has consistently trailed Bush and former Red Cross president Elizabeth Dole in the polls.

Quayle was George Bush's vice president and running mate in 1988 and 1992. He moved from Indiana to Arizona in 1996. He formed an exploratory committee in February to begin raising campaign funds.