- The Washington Times - Thursday, August 29, 2019

Rep. Tim Ryan on Thursday vowed to press forward with his presidential campaign despite failing to qualify for next month’s Democratic debate, saying the race is “just starting.”

“Obviously you want on, but we’re moving forward — this is not going to stop us at all,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “The metrics are such an artificial barrier, I think, to the natural flow of a campaign. I mean, we’re picking up endorsements left and right.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York became the latest Democratic presidential candidate to drop out on Wednesday as it became clear that she would not hit the polling and fundraising requirements to qualify for next month’s debate.

“We’re moving on the ground, and we’ve got time and money to keep going — so this race is just starting, not ending,” said Mr. Ryan, Ohio Democrat.

He said he’s running a campaign that’s more in the “moderate” lane in the race to take on President Trump — space that has been chiefly occupied to this point by former Vice President Joseph R. Biden.

“I’m the guy who can beat Donald Trump in these industrial states and send him back to Mar-a-Lago, and I’m looking forward for the opportunity to do that,” he said.

“The shine’s coming off the apple, and I think a lot of people think that this guy has some mental health issues,” Mr. Ryan said of the president.

“I mean, he is so erratic,” he said. “We’re going to buy Greenland? I mean, what the hell are we even talking about here when people are losing their job? He has no way to close the skills gap, he has no investments in education, the competitiveness, electric vehicles, solar, wind, artificial intelligence, 5G — all these things where China’s cleaning our clock, he has no freaking plan.”

• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.

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