ASHINGTON - Gary Bauer, the religious conservative who crusaded against abortion, sharply criticized human-rights abuses in China, and claimed to be the only real Reagan Republican in the race, is expected today to end his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.
Bauer received only 1 percent of the vote Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary and finished fourth out of six GOP candidates last month in the Iowa caucuses. He did not resume campaigning after New Hampshire but returned to his home outside Washington and scheduled an announcement for today.
His expected departure from the GOP field follows seven others - Dan Quayle, Lamar Alexander, Patrick Buchanan, Bob Smith, John Kasich, Elizabeth Dole, and Orrin Hatch - and removes one of the most passionate moral messengers and pungent debaters from the race.
''I believe strongly that the big civil rights challenge going into the next century will be whether or not we can set another place at the table for America's unborn children,'' Bauer said in a candidate debate in Des Moines. There, and in four other meetings, Bauer tried but failed to extract a pledge from Governor George W. Bush of Texas to choose an antiabortion running mate.
It was unclear last night whether Bauer would endorse Bush.
Bush, who is positioning himself as more conservative than Senator John McCain of Arizona as both woo primary voters in South Carolina, reportedly spoke to Bauer, and aides say he would welcome Bauer's support.
As the former president of the Family Research Council, a public-policy think tank, Bauer was well known in Washington as an effective national spokesman for religious conservatives. But in a field that had its share of articulate social conservatives - most notably former ambassador Alan Keyes - and rivals like Bush and Steve Forbes with much bigger campaign war chests, Bauer was unable to break through.
''Gary's commitment to the causes of social conservatives cannot be questioned,'' said Eddie Mahe, a GOP consultant. ''But he just did not meet the criteria that the American electorate by and large envisions in her president: stature, credentials, and background.''
Bauer, 53, grew up in Newport, Ky., with an alcoholic father, a mother who struggled to make ends meet, and a grandmother who believed that if she took Bauer to church, she could protect him from the town's organized crime that had claimed the life of one of her sons.
A born-again Christian, Bauer went on to college, got a degree from Georgetown Law School, worked for the Republican National Committee, and was both a top Education Department official and a key domestic policy adviser in the administration of Ronald Reagan.
Bauer frequently described himself as the true heir to Reagan, his political idol. In addition to calling for a constitutional amendment to end abortion and no concessions on gay rights, Bauer advocated a 16 percent flat tax, school vouchers and school prayer, and the construction of a missile-defense system. He made a tougher China policy a centerpiece of his campaign and said China should be denied Most Favored Nation status, accusing it of religious persecution, coercive abortions, and the export of nuclear technology to America's enemies.
''Gary's major contribution to the race was that he effectively put the China issue on the table, which is of growing importance, and he forced a debate on what our China policy should be in the new century,'' said Greg Mueller, a Forbes adviser.
Bauer raised about $7 million through a network of small donors, but he never could compete with the wealthy Forbes, whose message in 2000 was targeted much more at social conservatives than it had been in 1996. Forbes did better than Bauer among Iowa's conservative Christian voters, and he got the endorsement of the conservative Manchester Union Leader. Bauer did not receive the support of evangelical leaders like Pat Robertson.
Still, Bauer gamely trooped on through Iowa and New Hampshire. His entourage was small - a couple of aides, maybe a reporter or two, and sometimes his 21-year-old daughter, Elyse. And there were bumps along the road: He held a press conference with his wife and three children last fall to deny rumors that he was having an affair with a female staff member. Monday in New Hampshire, he tumbled off a stage at a pancake-flipping event.
Publicly, he remained good humored. Bauer liked to quip that women voters liked him for his pro-family message, not his ''debonair good looks.'' And when, in a recent debate, Bush said would take the expression ''Dear God, help me'' with him into the Oval Office, Bauer shot back: ''So would we, governor.''
