McCracken bows out (Austin mayor's runoff race)

AAS 5/11/09
McCracken bows out

Council Member Brewster McCracken is bowing out of the mayor’s race runoff, saying the contest would’ve been too much of an uphill battle.

McCracken trailed Council Member Lee Leffingwell by 20 points after Saturday’s general election, a gap many political consultants said is too big to close in a five-week runoff.

McCracken sounded upbeat in a phone interview this morning and said there are three main reasons he’s stepping aside: continuing on with such long odds would have required asking a lot of fundraisers and supporters; the election would have been expensive for taxpayers — $500,000; and there was little chance of avoiding negativity from both sides in the runoff.