Pat Robertson says he will end his run for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination but will form a political action committee to fund and train conservative Christian political candidates. Robertson announced Wednesday in Washington that he had offered his endorsement to Vice President George Bush, who has mathematically clinched the GOP nomination, and indicated he would withdraw from the race on Monday. However, after Robertson's announcement, an aide, Richard Pinsky, said Robertson would suspend his campaign rather than withdraw outright, and would release his delegates, but at a later date. After his meeting with Bush, Robertson was asked by reporters at the White House whether he was withdrawing. ``I will be making that official on Monday,'' he replied. And asked whether he would be releasing his delegates, he answered, ``Of course, I will be releasing them.'' The Robertson campaign later put out a press release saying Robertson had spoken with reporters about the meeting with Bush and told them ``he is not withdrawing from the race nor is he releasing his delegates.'' The campaign did say Robertson would make a statement about his campaign status on Monday. Calls to Robertson headquarters requesting a clarification were not returned Wednesday night. The new political action committee _ Americans for the Republic _ will actively support Christian candidates, according to Barbara Gattullo, a spokesman for Americans for Robertson, Robertson's campaign organization. She said the staff of Americans for Robertson would switch to the new organization, keeping the same office in Virginia, after the papers are filed with the Federal Election Commission. In an interview with The Virginian-Pilot & The Ledger-Star of Norfolk, Robertson said he likely would return to his job as the Christian Broadcasting Network's chief executive officer, a job his son has held since Robertson announced his candidacy. That came as a surprise to CBN officials. ``I don't have a comment to make,'' CBN spokesman Benton Miller said Wednesday. ``None of the staff or I ... have been provided any information by him at this point concerning what his future plans are.'' Robertson had appeared since 1967 on the ``700 Club'' program that is the flagship of the network. He left the program in 1986 to organize his presidential campaign and in September 1987 resigned both as the network's chief executive officer and as a pastor in the Southern Baptist church to run for office. The network immediately reported a dramatic drop in revenues and began laying off personnel. At the time, spokesmen refused to blame Robertson's political ambitions for the shortfall. Robertson, who has spent more than $22 million on his campaign, has 46 delegates to the national convention. Of the March 8 Super Tuesday primaries, Robertson failed to win any. He placed third behind Bush and Kansas Republican Sen. Bob Dole in his home state of Virginia.
