When billionaire publisher Steve Forbes dropped out of the presidential race Thursday, ISU Coordinator of Forbes 2000 Steve Skutnik was one of the last to know.

“I’m shocked. I understand the reason that they are giving. I think that it is a little early in the race to be dropping out; he is the third-place contender. I am disappointed I had to find out from The Washington Post that he was dropping out instead of by the campaigner itself,” said Skutnik, junior in physics.

And even though he still has not received any official word from Forbes’ $66 million campaign, Skutnik said it’s time to move on and pick a candidate who will be in the race come November.

“It runs against every grain of my conscience not to vote, but the only reason I will be voting now will be to vote against [Vice President] Al Gore or anyone else who is radically opposite of my views,” he said.

Skutnik is not alone, however. Forbes’ absence from the GOP race leaves a substantial chunk of Republicans looking for a candidate to get behind.

“The worst is the disenfranchisement I feel. No one else is coming up with any original ideas expect [Alan] Keyes, who is statistically insignificant in the polls,” Skutnik said. “All the other candidates are going down the same old party lines.”

Skutnik said he will now focus on trying to mainstream the ideas that the Forbes campaign represented, such as the flat tax.

Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science, said most of Forbes’ supporters would lend their support to the eventual GOP nominee, but Christian conservatives, many of whom supported Forbes early in the campaign because of his stance on abortion, might not vote at all because there are no viable candidates left with strong pro-life records.

Garrett Toay, chair of Students for Bush, said Texas Gov. George W. Bush will be picking up some of the support that Forbes had before his resignation.

“I think a majority of the votes will go to Bush. [Pat] Buchanan will get some for the Reform Party. I am not sure how many will go to [Arizona Sen. John] McCain because he is getting a large boost from the media with their coverage of him, so it’s hard to tell,” Toay said.

Toay said he was surprised by Forbes dropping out so early in the race.

“I know that he was counting on Delaware as a major factor in this campaign, but it surprised me that he would drop out this early after spending [$66 million],” he said.

Schmidt, however, said he was not surprised that Forbes dropped out because he could not figure out why the publisher ran in the first place.

“He is a wealthy guy, and I cannot understand why he would want to take on such a unrewarding job,” Schmidt said. “He wasn’t doing well in the polls. He inherited his publishing business from his daddy, and I have always thought that maybe that might be the reason why he ran. Maybe he feels that he has to prove himself.”

Schmidt said he was impressed by voters because they proved they are educated enough not to vote for someone who doesn’t have the experience to lead the country.

“Forbes proves that you can’t buy an election,” he said. “If money is so important in politics, he should have won in Iowa and New Hampshire.”