I think we have our first official drop out: Former Republican Governor of Virginia James S. Gilmore will not be running for the GOP nomination in 2008.

In the interview, Gilmore said the punishing financial requirements of the early-starting race caused him to decide it was "impractical" to continue. "Because of the front-loading of the primaries, I would have basically had to stop campaigning and spend full time organizing hundreds of people to raise money for me," he said.

Gilmore's campaign issued a statement in which he said: "I have come to believe that it takes more than a positive vision for our nation's future to successfully compete for the presidency. I believe that it takes years of preparation to put in place both the political and financial infrastructure to contest what amounts to a one-day national primary in February."

He's going out with a whine not a bang, blaming the front-loading of the primaries for his inability to break through. As for that, it might be interesting to ask him why Fred Thompson seems to be doing perfectly fine under the same set of circumstances. Jim Gilmore is a conventional conservative but managed to raise just over $200,000 this quarter. Ouch!

Realistically though, there just wasn't enough room in the national consciousness. To my knowledge (being an avid politics junkie) Gilmore never did or said anything especially noteworthy. Contrast this with Fred Thompson who had been connecting with the conservative media for a few months now, serving big heaping portions of red meat.

So that's it then. Gilmore confirmed that he's thinking about running for the senate or the governorship of Virginia. In the meantime he will be raising support in Virginia for Republican causes.