Note to Michael’s readers: Greetings from the liberal side of the aisle and many thanks to Michael for the opportunity to post here while he’s on vacation.  The readers at The Democratic Daily have enjoyed Michael’s posts there, I hope his readers will enjoy mine.

In every presidential race there are always some longshot candidates that decide to make a bid, but I had no idea this guy was running… Until he dropped out:

Former Virginia governor James S. Gilmore III ended his long-shot Republican presidential campaign yesterday, saying he was unable to raise enough money to communicate his conservative vision to Americans. He held out the possibility, however, that he might soon run for public office again in Virginia.

Gilmore, the son of a butcher who had improbably risen to become a local prosecutor, a state attorney general and a governor of Virginia, dropped out of the crowded GOP primary field a day before reporting that he had raised $211,000 between April and June.

Gilmore said yesterday, “I think I have the record and credentials to actually be the president…”

But apparently not to many people agreed:

Since January, he has raised $381,000, while his rivals have collected tens of millions of dollars.

The Washington Post also reported today that the presidential race is heating up in Florida where Republicans “Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mitt Romney both spent heavily in Florida over the past three months.”

Florida’s elevated status owes to its new Jan. 29 primary date, which places it one week ahead of the crush of early primaries in delegate-rich states such as California, New Jersey and New York.

It will be interesting to see how this front loaded primary system pans out for both sides of the aisle.

 Cross posted from The Democratic Daily.