Harvard Law Professor Larry Lessig today announced the end of his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. If you hadn’t heard about it, his was a single-issue candidacy and his issue was the need for campaign finance reform.
Lessig is smart and serious, but his idea of a campaign on that issue never came close to breaking through. Early in his campaign he even promised that if he could get elected and accomplish his one reform idea, he would resign and allow his running-mate to serve out the term, although he later said that he would serve out the term.
In his statement of withdrawal, Lessig says that his plan to qualify for inclusion in the next Democratic debate now has no chance of working, because the party changed the requirements for inclusion and it is now impossible. Without the exposure he would gain by participation in the debate, he has no incentive to go forward. Here’s his statement:
Don Quixote
Mr. Lessig gives up his quest to save the virtue of the fair Dulcinea.
First rational thing
that he’s done.