Former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore is ending his long-shot bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
Gilmore suspended his campaign following a poor performance in the New Hampshire primary, which followed an even worse showing in Iowa, where he barely campaigned and was the choice of only 12 caucusgoers.
Since his campaign's launch last July, Gilmore, 66, could lay claim to the dubious distinction of being the longest long shot in a GOP field that at one one time featured many of them. After participating in the opening Republican undercard debate in Cleveland last August, Gilmore didn't make a debate stage again until Jan. 28 in Des Moines.
His quixotic bid back something of a social media curiosity. The hashtag #Gilmentum was regularly seen on Twitter, and Gilmore himself even seemed to embrace his status as social media curiosity, tweeting after the departures of Rand Paul and Rick Santorum from the GOP field after Iowa: "Started out as 1 of 17 GOP Candidates, now with Rand Paul & Rick Santorum out, 1 or 9. #StillStanding."
