The 2000 presidential campaign of Dan Quayle, former vice president of the United States, began with an announcement on January 21, 1999 that he was forming an exploratory committee. Several months later, on April 14, he officially announced his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination. Dan Quayle had been an elected member of Congress since 1977, and he served as George H. W. Bush's running mate in his successful 1988 presidential campaign, serving as vice president until losing reelection in 1992. Throughout his time in government, he was considered a staunch conservative who was especially popular among the Christian right, but several gaffes during his vice presidency had damaged his reputation among the general public. Though he had initially considered running for President in 1996, he ultimately passed on this.
In the years leading up to the 2000 presidential election, multiple news sources speculated that Quayle might run, and during the 1998 midterm elections, he campaigned for numerous Republican candidates. However, when Quayle announced the formation of an exploratory committee in early 1999, political analysts were skeptical of his chances of winning, citing his image issues and the popularity of George W. Bush (son of former President Bush). Opinion polling throughout the campaign seemed to confirm this, as he usually polled in the single-digits, far behind the frontrunner Bush.
Quayle made family values and his foreign policy experience a keystone of his campaign and attacked the Bill Clinton administration on both fronts repeatedly, while on specific policy proposals, he emphasized his plan for a 30 percent tax cut across the board. However, Quayle continued to trail other Republican candidates in both fundraising and support, and by August, numerous news sources were reporting that a poor performance in the Iowa Straw Poll could be disastrous for his campaign. Quayle finished eighth in the straw poll and a little over a month later, on September 28, Quayle withdrew from the race, citing a lack of funds and low polling numbers. The following year, Quayle endorsed Bush, who went on to win the general election.
Background
James Danforth Quayle was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1947. He attended college at DePauw University and Indiana University Indianapolis, during which time he also served as a member of the Indiana National Guard. In 1974, the same year he graduated, he was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in Huntington, Indiana. In 1976, he was elected as a member of the Republican Party to the United States House of Representatives, a position he would hold until being elected to the United States Senate in 1980. During the 1988 United States presidential election, he was chosen as the running mate of eventual winner George H. W. Bush, with Quayle sworn in as Vice President of the United States in 1989. However, Bush and Quayle lost reelection in the 1992 presidential election.
As an elected official, Quayle was a staunch conservative, appealing to the Christian right and positioning himself as a Reagan Republican. Despite his electoral successes at a young age (being elected as a representative at 29 and vice president at 41), he lacked significant support from Republican leaders. In a 1999 article in The Washington Post, journalist David Von Drehle stated that Quayle "was never the darling of the party core". His selection as Bush's running mate was questioned by some within the party, and his numerous gaffes damaged his political reputation. Following his term as vice president, Quayle considered running for president in the 1996 presidential election, going so far as establishing an exploratory committee and raising money through a political action committee (PAC) in late 1994. However, he withdrew from the race in February 1995. Prior to his withdrawal, The New York Times had labeled Quayle as "the most popular candidate among religious conservatives", and Executive Director Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition of America stated that many of his group's members "felt an almost bottomless well of admiration" for Quayle.