Robertson Makes It Official, Quits Presidential Race

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. —  Pat Robertson, having won Republicans’ attention but few delegates, formally abandoned his presidential campaign today and said he will immediately return to the helm of his financially troubled Christian Broadcasting Network.

“Today I suspend my candidacy for the Republican nomination in 1988 but I do not now nor will I ever suspend my advocacy of conservative and moral principles,” the evangelist said in front of his Georgian-style mansion here.

“George Bush has won the nomination. I applaud his magnificent effort and warmly endorse his candidacy.”

Robertson said he filed incorporation papers today for a new political action committee called “Americans for the Republic,” a group he said will be “a rallying point for future political action.”

But when pressed about whether he will run again in 1992, Robertson said: “That remains a moot question until the 1988 election. I hope Mr. Bush is elected and then reelected again in 1992.”