fter spending more than $66 million in two attempts at his elusive White House dream, the conservative magazine publisher Steve Forbes will drop out of the Republican presidential race today, winnowing the GOP field to three.
A day after he finished a disappointing third in Delaware's Republican primary, Forbes abruptly canceled campaign events in Michigan yesterday and returned to his New Jersey home. He is scheduled to announce his exit from the race at a press conference this afternoon in Washington, D.C.
Forbes's exit did not seem likely to lead to major shifts in the GOP race, which has come down to a contest between Governor George W. Bush of Texas and Senator John McCain, of Arizona, with former Ambassador Alan Keyes trailing far behind.
A Gallup poll conducted last weekend showed Forbes with just 2 percent of the Republican vote nationwide. In South Carolina, home of the next Republican primary on Feb. 19, Forbes has been stalled below 5 percent in most polls.
Still, both Bush and McCain sought to claim the backing of Forbes's supporters yesterday.
''It may help us,'' McCain said in South Carolina yesterday. ''We're already hearing from a lot of them that are coming on board.''
''I think I'll have a good chance to pick up a lot of his support, and I look forward to working hard to pick up his support,'' Bush said. ''He injected a lot of interesting ideas into the discourse.''
Forbes aides said that he will not endorse any candidate today, but that he may in the future. His campaign manager, Bill Dal Col, dismissed speculation that Forbes feels personal enmity toward Bush that might prevent a future endorsement.
Dal Col said yesterday that Forbes decided to quit the race on Tuesday night after finishing third in Delaware, whose primary he won in 1996. Forbes placed behind McCain, who did not campaign in the state.
Delaware marked the end of a rapid meltdown for Forbes, who scored a triumphant second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses just over two weeks ago. Forbes and his aides were ebullient as they left Iowa for New Hampshire, blaring rock music aboard his chartered jet and talking boldly of a three-way race with Bush and McCain.
But Forbes was unable to replicate the enthusiasm and organization he built at great cost in Iowa. The next week he finished third in New Hampshire's primary, with just 13 percent of the vote, and his support waned rapidly nationwide.
Aides said that Forbes, despite his low poll numbers, had played an important role in shaping the Republican party's agenda in recent years with his call for a 17 percent flat tax, a constitutional amendment banning abortion, and market-driven approaches to reforming Social Security and health care.
''A lot of issues wouldn't be in play right now if it weren't for Steve Forbes,'' said a campaign spokeswoman, Juleanna Glover Weiss.
Dal Col, meanwhile, ruled out speculation that Forbes might join the race for an open New Jersey Senate seat this year.
Previously known best as the heir to the publishing empire built by his father, Malcolm Forbes Sr., Steve Forbes became an unexpected addition to presidential politics in 1995 after deciding his party lacked a sufficiently bold tax-cutter in its presidential field.
His candidacy made him the national standard bearer for ''supply-side'' economics, a theory that holds that huge tax cuts will drastically accelerate economic growth.
At the same time, Forbes styled himself as an angry populist who ridiculed the ''Washington elites,'' compared the tax code to a Frankenstein monster, and vowed to purge the Capitol of lobbyists.
Forbes rode his flat tax plan to national notice in 1996, but dropped out of that race after winning just two primaries, having spent $37 million from his estimated fortune of $440 million.
Barely pausing between campaigns, Forbes entered the 2000 presidential race with a new emphasis on morality and a strong anti-abortion message. His hope was to unite a coalition of social and economic conservatives.
But some observers said Forbes had succeeded only in muddying his message, leaving religious conservatives skeptical of his new moral focus and obscuring his simple flat-tax pitch.
William Mayer, an associate professor of political science at Northeastern University, said Forbes suffered from several problems, including the fact that he has never held elective office and that he faced the challenge of running two consecutive campaigns as an outsider. ''Once you've done it once, you look like more of a professional, and it looks like a career move,'' he said.
Mayer added that Forbes's flat-tax message was a hard sell in a time of economic contentment.
With his shy demeanor, Forbes also never showed a personal touch that has been invaluable to successful candidates from Bill Clinton to John McCain.
Dal Col acknowledged yesterday that Forbes, who spent at least $29 million more of his own money on this campaign, had been frustrated by a GOP race that has focused more on character than policy.
''It was the environment,'' he said. ''The economy's humming along, people are not focused on issues. It became more of a biography race, and he's clearly more of an issues and an agenda candidate.''
