Carly Fiorina Is Quitting the GOP Campaign, and Chris Christie Is Probably Gone Too

Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie, a pair of Republican candidates who never had a chance to become president, seemed finally ready to acknowledge that fact on Wednesday.

Fiorina formally dropped out after getting a measly 4 percent in the New Hampshire primary. The former Hewlett-Packard CEO ran for a senate seat in California and lost by ten points, so it's not clear why she thought she could become president. She did boost her profile if she wants to try for a lower office, so there's that, at least. The only woman in the GOP field, her most memorable moments came when she launched nasty attacks on Hillary Clinton and described an apparently nonexistent video of evil abortion doctors harvesting a live baby's brain.

Christie hasn't officially announced he's out of the race, but after a disappointing sixth-place finish in New Hampshire, a state where he's campaigned extensively, the New Jersey governor headed back to his home state instead of going to South Carolina, the site of the next primary. By Wednesday afternoon it was being widely reported that he was quitting, but the campaign has so far declined to confirm all that talk. He's going to be governor of New Jersey until 2018, when his second term ends; most of his own state seems to dislike him but he legally can't serve a third term anyway.

Even before Wednesday's news, it seemed likely that neither candidate was going to be invited to the next GOP debate on CBS. Without much in the way of support from actual voters, and without the platform of a debate stage, there wasn't much for Christie and Fiorina to do but concede—and hope against hope they'll be considered for VP.

Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore is still in the race, as far as anyone knows.