ASHINGTON - Citing an insurmountable ''80-to-1'' disadvantage in fund-raising, Elizabeth Dole ended her bid yesterday to become the first woman president, dropping out of the Republican primary three months before the first vote will be cast.
Poised and smiling, Dole stood with her husband, Bob, the unsuccessful 1996 GOP nominee, before a packed news conference, declaring that she saw no way to overcome the financial and political odds against her.
''The bottom line is money,'' said Dole, the former Red Cross president and two-time Cabinet secretary. ''It would be futile to continue.''
Dole's departure could boost the campaigns of Senator John McCain of Arizona and Steve Forbes, but front-runner George W. Bush will probably be the biggest beneficiary, say Dole aides. Seven Republican candidates remain in the contest.
''Her getting out will help George W. Bush,'' said Dole's former communications director, Ari Fleischer, noting that many Dole supporters told pollsters that Bush was their second choice.
Two weeks ago, Dole angrily denied rumors that she would drop out, and her campaign recently announced that she would officially launch her candidacy in early November.
Yesterday, Dole said she made a tentative decision to drop out during a five-hour flight last weekend from Seattle to Washington, D.C. She reached a final determination after discussing it Monday and Tuesday with her staff and husband. On Tuesday night, she canceled an appearance before 900 people at an Indianapolis fund-raiser, with aides providing a cover story that she had become ill.
In fact, she had decided to quit the race. Bob Dole had tried to persuade her to stay in, aides say. When Mrs. Dole announced her decision yesterday, her husband stood behind her, alternately smiling and shedding some tears as his dry-eyed wife addressed more than 100 members of the media.
Dole, the fifth candidate to withdraw from the GOP race this year, blamed most of her troubles on Bush's fund-raising prowess. The Texas governor has taken in an unprecedented $57 million and is well on his way to collecting $100 million. Dole also noted that Forbes is using his own fortune to finance his race.
Dole, in comparison with Bush, has collected $4.8 million and has found that her husband's fund-raising network, which she once believed would be an integral part of her campaign, was largely committed to Bush. Dole had less than $1 million in cash on hand, compared with Bush's $37 million. The cash shortage has made it difficult to pay staff and to cover travel expenses, not to mention the huge cost of running television advertisements.
Dole's assertion that she was beaten by the campaign money system has underscored McCain's central issue, the need to overhaul the way elections are financed. ''All of these voters who formerly supported Dole are taking a second look at the race,'' said McCain spokesman Howard Opinsky. ''That is good for us. A lot of these people, if they wanted to be with Bush, they would be with Bush already.''
Within hours of Dole's announcement, however, several top Dole supporters announced they were backing Bush. Bush's staff has kept alive the notion that he might pick Dole as a running mate, providing another reason for Dole supporters to back him.
''I think that clearly if you look at the numbers, Dole and George Bush share much of the same coalition support, and they both do very well with female voters, and we'll have to see which candidate her supporters go to now,'' said Dole's pollster, Linda DiVall. ''My sense is that they are very strong for George W. Bush, and the rest of the candidates really have a long way to go to get their support.''
Dole wasn't ready to say yesterday whom she would back in the presidential race. But she did not rule out accepting a vice presidential nomination. Some aides think it is possible that Dole will endorse Bush, while her husband will back McCain, a longtime friend. Bob Dole this year made a widely publicized statement that he would consider donating to McCain's campaign, prompting Elizabeth Dole to joke that she took her husband to the woodshed.
Still, Dole faced questions yesterday about whether she had squandered opportunities during the campaign. Early this year, there was much speculation that she would compete evenly with Bush. In April, she was trailing Bush 62 to 24 percent. And in the latest CNN poll, she was behind, 60 to 11 percent.
''Money was a huge problem for her, but even if she had another $20 million or $30 million, this was a candidacy that failed to meet high expectations,'' political analyst Stu Rothenberg said. ''She never had a crisp, clear message. There were many missed opportunities. Fund-raising is part of a candidate's job.''
Dole's status as the lone woman in the race helped attract support from other women and young voters, but she also was hurt by those who think the country is not ready for a female president. Dole said she benefited from having more woman donors than other candidates and said she had ''paved the way'' for a woman president.
Ellen R. Malcolm, president of EMILY's List, a Democratic women's political fund-raising group, said Dole's problems ''had little to do with gender and everything to do with Republicans' desire to coalesce around George W. Bush.''
But some of Dole's aides were saddened that she dropped out before her ideas and her style had been put to the test in debates, caucuses, and primaries. Next week, Dole was slated to participate in a town meeting with Republican candidates in New Hampshire, which would have provided free exposure in the first-primary state. Bush is not attending the event because he believes it is too early for such meetings.
