Kirkpatrick Tells Why She Won’t Seek Presidency

WASHINGTON — Her voice tinged with regret, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Monday that she decided not to run for President because she is a woman, a “new Republican” and without experience in running for office.

“My family was for it to a man,” she said, referring to her husband and three sons. “I made the decision completely on my own. First, it’s still a difficult thing for a woman; second, I’m a new Republican and that sort of bothered me (she switched her registration less than three years ago), and third, I’d never run for elective office before.”

The effort to draft the former ambassador was started in September by the Manchester Union Leader, the leading voice of New Hampshire conservatism, with a series of front-page editorials promoting her.

Despite her inexperience and press descriptions of her personality as a cold intellectual, Kirkpatrick said Monday she was not “put off” by the prospect of a national campaign.

“I like people and get along well meeting people,” she said. “I could have done the campaigning.”

Kirkpatrick said she heard from “hundreds of people” during the weeks in which she contemplated a presidential bid and was left with a single strong impression:

“There are a great many women who want to see a woman candidate for President.”