http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/242074-john-bolton-wont-run-for-presidentMay 14, 2015, 12:23 pm
John Bolton won't run for president
By Jonathan Easley
Former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton announced Thursday he would forego a longshot bid for the Republican presidential nomination, but vowed to hold the GOP candidates accountable on his signature issue of foreign policy.
“I’ve contemplated whether I should run to drive this issue [foreign policy] to the center of the political agenda,” Bolton said on a conference call with reporters. “I have concluded that in my circumstances, it’s not feasible to do that, although I believe the substance of these issues should be central to the debate.”
Bolton said he would seek to influence the presidential candidates, as well as some House and Senate races, through his leadership PAC, super-PAC and newly founded nonprofit, The Foundation for American Security & Freedom.
The former diplomat said his PACs raised $7.5 million in the last cycle and spent heavily in favor of successful Republican candidates, including Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
He said he has already been in contact with a handful of Republican presidential candidates in a consulting capacity on global political matters, although he would not specify whom.
“I want to make sure that all of the candidates feel in their gut that protecting the country is the president’s first job,” Bolton said.
Bolton is among the most hawkish voices in the Republican Party, and he lashed out Thursday at members of his own party, who he said had not done enough to draw attention to the foreign threats the country faces.
He singled out Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in particular. Paul is running for president and is criticized by many in the party for his non-interventionist views.
“The more people learn about his foreign policy views, the more his support will decline,” Bolton said.
Bolton also warned that former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, would prove to be a formidable foe on the issue of foreign policy.
“Her tenure was a failure, but she knows how to talk the talk. Republicans need to make sure they don’t allow her to skip away with national security as an issue that works in her favor,” Bolton said.
Bolton would have been a longshot for the nomination, but he has stoked speculation about a potential White House bid by traveling to the early-voting states in recent weeks, arguing for tougher U.S. positions on Iran and Islamic militants in the Middle East and defending the decision to invade Iraq.
Bolton either doesn’t register in national polls or is not included in them. A Fox News survey released on Monday polled 16 potential GOP candidates, but Bolton was not among them.
In addition to being buried in the group of hopefuls, he also would have faced stiff competition from a crowded field of candidates looking to stake their claim as the preeminent foreign policy hawk in the field.
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry are among the candidates and likely candidates looking to stake a claim as the strongest Republican on national security.
Bolton said Thursday he had no immediate plans to endorse any of the candidates and didn’t indicate who he believed was most inline with his world view.
