Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore appears ready to jump into the 2016 presidential race this week — and the onetime Republican National Committee chairman tells
Newsmax TV he's not at all concerned about the crowded field of candidates vying for the GOP nomination.
Asked on "The Steve Malzberg Show" whether he is throwing his hat into the ring, Gilmore — president of Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank — said Tuesday:
"We'll let you know on Thursday. At that point there's going to be an announcement that you'll probably be interested in, but the goal here is to do the right thing for the United States."
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Gilmore is late to the party — sixteen others have already declared, including Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich and George Pataki — but he isn't worried.
"The crowded field is not significant. What is important — because frankly if you look at all the talk that's going on over the crowded field right now — [is] it actually encourages one to get in and try to offer some serious proposals and some serious leadership based upon real experience," he said.
"But that type of process point really isn't significant. What is significant is that somebody's got to offer a plan and a proposal to help the United States of America. We're really in serious economic trouble. The international situation is bad and getting worse.
"We've got to rebuild the United States to strength and provide genuine international leadership, and again, I have that experience both as a former governor on the economic side and the legislative side and a deep foreign policy experience in order to make a contribution to the nation and provide the direction for the country."
Gilmore was asked about Trump's huge lead in the polls. A Monmouth University poll shows the billionaire developer crushing fellow Republicans in New Hampshire, where he has double the support of Bush, among voters likely to participate in the Granite State primary. Trump’s 24 percent support bests Bush’s 12 percent in the poll, followed by Walker and Kasich with 7 percent each.
"It tells me that this is so early that the campaign is not as developed as you think it is. Everybody's talking now about the big names that are in the race, but they're all based on name identification," Gilmore told Steve Malzberg.
"Jeb Bush has name identification because his brother was president, his father was president. Trump has name identification because he ran a reality show for years and years. Everything else is showing that there's still room and time for a serious discussion about the future of the country.
"I don't want to go in this thing to be some flamboyant, silly person or somebody saying reckless things that are a turn-off for the American people. I want to try to lead the American people in a direction that's good for the country, good for our families and good for the safety and security of the people of the United States."
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