Lise Van Susteren said she is dropping her bid for U.S. Senate. Does that mean she?s leaving Fox News too?
No, Lise is the sister of TV host Greta Van Susteren and a psychiatrist from Montgomery County.
For seven months, she?s been running for the Senate seat being given up by retiring Paul Sarbanes.
A Gonzales Research poll released Tuesday found her running a distant third with 4 percent of Democratic voters supporting her in the race dominated by Rep. Ben Cardin and former Rep. Kweisi Mfume.
“While we raised half a million dollars, it wasn?t enough to assure that we would reach the numbers of voters that we would need to win in September,” Van Susteren said on her Web site and in a letter to supporters.
Van Susteren was also fourth in fundraising, only $150,000 behind the second-place Mfume.
“She was in the race to win, not to make a statement,” said campaign spokesman RonEckstein, and when it was clear she wasn?t going to be able to do that, Van Susteren decided to fold the campaign.
She was the only woman in the race and said, “We ? need gender balance in government.”
“We need to elect people from diverse occupational backgrounds, who bring skills honed from success in other areas, and whose life experiences sharpen their passion to consider the lives of real people when making policy,” Van Susteren said.
Trying to stir up trouble in Democratic ranks, state Republican Party Chair John Kane took Van Susteren?s remarks as “a not-so-subtle knock on career politician Ben Cardin [which] echoes similar sentiments from former NAACP Chairman Kweisi Mfume.”
“As Democratic Party bosses continue to push for the coronation of 20-year Washington, D.C., insider Ben Cardin, it is no surprise that Van Susteren and Mfume are waving giant warning flags to their party,” Kane said.
The GOP has united behind Lt. Gov. Michael Steele in the Senate race, virtually guaranteeing at least one African American on November?s statewide ballot.
