Mike Castaldo has withdrawn from the Republican Primary in NH's CD-1 - Granite Grok

Mike Castaldo has withdrawn from the Republican Primary in NH’s CD-1

I was surfing over at NOW!Hampshire at lunch and caught this: "Castaldo drops out of 1st CD race":

DOVER — City resident Mike Castaldo has ended his bid for the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District. The reason: money.

He spent the past eight months traveling the state, but it became clear "a regular guy with regular friends cannot compete in an arena where success is largely measured by dollars raised," he wrote supporters Monday.

"It is impossible to be considered a ‘serious candidate’ unless you can demonstrate fundraising ability. With many of my friends working two, three, and sometimes four jobs to earn a fraction of what they were just a few years ago, they are in no more a position to give than I am to self fund."

Castaldo struck an upbeat tone in the letter, saying he got to know other candidates on a personal level and is confident Republicans "have some great choices."

I certainly had my beef with Mike on his association with the ONE campaign which he first announced (which is trying to lobby government to push for the Obama’s version of the UN tax for poverty – a massive redistribution of wealth; given the sorry success rate of the UN in doing such, this is an even massively bad idea) but I also gave him the chance to respond when we caught up with each other at the NH Steward earlier this year.

Here’s the email I sent to him:

On 5/4/2010 3:20 PM, Skip Murphy wrote:

Mike,

I probably would not have voted for you (news, eh?) and we sparred over the ONE campaign.  That said, I CAN say that you are a stand up guy, took your lumps, and kept smiling.

*I* appreciate the fact that you even tried to run; you did your homework and did the hard work of campaigning in getting to the events where I saw you (and there is no greater praise from me than those two items, doing the homework and doing the hard work).

Hopefully you can take the next few words in the way they are meant:  I’m glad I met ya!  And I’m glad we were able to connect and do that promised interview.

-Skip
GraniteGrok

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