Elizabeth Dole will announce today that she will resign from her position as head of the American Red Cross and may seek the presidency in 2000.
Dole is the only U.S. woman to hold two Cabinet offices, as transportation secretary for former president Ronald Reagan and labor secretary for his successor, George Bush. She also served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission and as a senior staff member in the Reagan administration.
Although Dole has stated that she will not discuss her future political plans during today’s announcement, several sources quoted by CNN and NBC stated that she is leaving the Red Cross to consider a possible bid for the presidency and to begin fund raising the estimated $20 million needed to run a successful presidential campaign.
So far, the only Republican to formally announce a bid for the Republican party’s presidential nomination by filing papers with the Federal Election Commission is Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri is expected to announce his candidacy this week, and Texas Gov. George Bush is also expected to join the list of Republican candidates.
Vice President Al Gore is the Democratic party’s first official candidate.
