我当时并不知道，但南卡罗来纳州参议员蒂姆·斯科特做出了令人惊讶的决定周日退出2024年总统竞选周四，他在得梅因与爱荷华州房地产开发商协会举行的豪华晚宴上进行了最后一次竞选活动。
每个客人的盘子里都有牛排和鲑鱼，坐在他侄子对面的斯科特看起来很累——或者至少没那么有活力。
也许他是因为追逐一个梦想而筋疲力尽，这个梦想已经越来越明显，到明年就无法实现了。乐观，这位共和党候选人宣扬的信息自从5月份他的竞选活动开始以来，似乎有其局限性。
就连他的助手也承认，前一天晚上的事件让他筋疲力尽。
斯科特刚刚从第三次共和党总统候选人辩论，在迈阿密。尽管勉强有资格参加这项活动，他还是拥有最多的发言时间在台上。
他摇摇欲坠的竞选需要一个亮点，但他却掀起了另一个涟漪538/华盛顿邮报/益普索民意调查辩论后，在可能的共和党初选选民中，认为他做得最好的人比例最低。
他得到的大部分关注都集中在他的女朋友Mindy Noce的爆料上，当辩论结束时，Mindy Noce走上舞台(在摄像机前)与他分享了一个短暂的时刻。
斯科特拒绝了对他个人生活的兴趣之前他说他不想拖某人的后腿，除非他们打算结婚。但一名竞选官员告诉ABC新闻，Noce的出席-两人已经约会约一年-是斯科特承诺做真实的自己的一部分。
周四，在得梅因，他最后一次宣称自己是下一任美国总统的最佳人选。
他谈到了自己卑微的出身以及如何成为一名公务员。就像他经常做的那样，他偶尔会从椅子上跳起来“布道”但与其他活动不同的是，他没有受到同等程度的热情。最后，只有四个人向他提问，其中一个问题是他最喜欢的开国元勋是谁，主持人不得不鼓励观众和斯科特一起参与。
“其他问题?没有问题了吗?这里就有一位总统候选人，”他说。
斯科特一贯的热情洋溢，常常感染他的观众，现在完全不见了。一些选民似乎对未来的道路感到困惑，甚至沮丧。
“我不承认共和党，”终身保守派比尔·金伯利在晚宴上对斯科特说。“这个国家的大部分地区处于中间地带，我们希望共同努力...是时候让共和党找回他们的灵魂了。”
大多数共和党选民看起来并不认同金伯利的观点:前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)牢牢控制着该党的基础。他最接近的竞争对手在全国民调中落后他整整42个百分点，根据538的平均值.
截至周日，当他退出时，斯科特落后于他们所有人，只有两人除外。
“我没有被召唤去赢”
事后看来，斯科特的竞选活动在辩论后的周末开始逐渐减少。
周五早上，我起床后驱车两个小时前往爱荷华州的卡罗尔，在另一家披萨农场参加见面会，这是一家受欢迎的中西部连锁店，已经成为共和党在关键的提前投票州竞选活动的常见零售站。大约20分钟后，我收到斯科特团队的短信，通知我他患了流感，将取消那个周末剩下的所有五项赛事。
竞选团队告诉我，在南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿休养之后，“他期待下周回到鹰眼州”。
太近了，无法回头，我决定继续开车去比萨牧场，在那里我受到了一位友好的爱荷华州工作人员的欢迎，他对斯科特的活动被取消感到失望——他自己计划了其中的一些活动——但对即将到来的事情感到兴奋。
这位员工告诉我，他终于能够停止远程工作，与同事面对面交流了。斯科特竞选团队刚刚在西得梅因开设了一个新办公室，这是他们在撤回电视广告并整合了他们在南卡罗来纳州和新罕布什尔州的资源后，在1月份为党团会议“全力以赴”的计划的一部分。
周日，在家过了一个安静的周末后，Scott出现在他的朋友Trey Gowdy的福克斯新闻频道秀上，宣布他根本不会做任何事情。
“当我回到爱荷华州时，不会是作为总统候选人。我暂停我的竞选，”他说。“我想我是被叫去跑步的。我不是被叫去赢的。”
不仅高迪对这一发现明显感到震惊——在采访中他一度说，“我正在努力处理这一信息”——他的工作人员也是如此。
多名助手向美国广播公司证实，他们不知道接下来会发生什么。熟悉竞选活动的消息人士表示，斯科特和他的竞选经理珍妮弗·迪卡斯珀(Jennifer DeCasper)周日举行了一次情绪激动的约五分钟全体电话会议，感谢工作人员的奉献和辛勤工作。
简短的电话留下了许多问题，其中最紧迫的问题是新罕布什尔州、爱荷华州和南卡罗来纳州急切的现场工作人员的命运，他们都希望在即将到来的假日季节保留他们的工资。
一名高级竞选官员说，“他们将确保人们得到照顾”，有包裹和新的工作。
但是一位为了坦诚而要求匿名的工作人员表达了对明显缺乏计划的担忧和沮丧。这位人士说，他们对参议员“没有恶意”，并称他退出的决定从长远来看对他是一件好事。但他们也表示，他们不知道这个更大的竞选团队会有什么样的计划。
斯科特试图安抚那些支持他的人:据一位消息人士称，周一，他在查尔斯顿竞选总部发表了一个多小时的讲话，与助手们一起拍照和抛球。他向他们保证他们会得到照顾。
感觉结束
斯科特带着党内广泛的善意、巨大的财务优势和独特的背景故事参加了2024年的竞选——他遇到了特朗普其他主要竞争对手面临的同样问题:根据民调，共和党选民更喜欢特朗普。
一开始是一场“植根于乐观主义”的运动，结果变成了一场不欢而散、尽管有些友好的运动。
尽管斯科特在最后几周改变了风格，接受了对其他候选人的攻击，但他周围的每个人似乎都同意这位参议员可以有多“好”——而且不只是选民喜欢他。
斯科特退出比赛后，他的对手很快就对他大加赞赏。
前新泽西州长克里斯·克里斯蒂称赞他“正直和诚实”，南卡罗莱纳州的妮基·黑利说他是一个“好人”，佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯称赞他“大胆的想法”，维韦克·拉马斯瓦米称他为“好伙计”
消息人士称，前副总统迈克·彭斯最近也退出了，他和斯科特一样，已经在回应德桑蒂斯团队关于巩固对抗川普的恳求，他感谢斯科特的“原则性领导”
在我作为ABC新闻的“嵌入式”记者跟踪斯科特竞选的25个星期里，我也注意到了他在跟踪过程中表现得有多好。
但是斯科特的“快乐战士”形象经常对他不利:选民们很快就会问他是否真的太好了而无法完成工作。
他没有表明他将在共和党初选中支持谁，他在一份声明中告诉捐助者:“我将继续致力于确保这个国家通过享受帮助人们的旅程来选择正确的人。”他表示，他可能会在“另一个机会”再次参选。
他的最后一站竞选，周四在爱荷华州，是我见过的最悲伤的一站——没有了我习惯的活力和笑话。这是我唯一一次看到斯科特和一群不为他感到兴奋的人在一起。
也许他也感觉到了。
The sad end to 'happy warrior' Tim Scott's presidential campaign: Reporter's notebook
I didn't know it at the time, but South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who made the surprise decisionto exit the 2024 presidential race on Sunday, held his last campaign stop at a swanky dinner with the Iowa Real Estate Developers Association in Des Moines on Thursday.
Steak and salmon were on each guest's plate and Scott, sitting across from his nephew, appeared tired -- or at the very least less animated.
Perhaps he was worn out from chasing a dream that it had increasingly become clear was not within reach by next year. Optimism,a message the Republican hopeful had toutedsince the start of his campaign back in May, seemed to have its limits.
Even his aides acknowledged the previous night's events had worn him down.
Scott had just come fromthe third GOP presidential debate, in Miami. Having barely qualified for the event, he nonethelesshad the most speaking timeon stage.
His faltering campaign needed a splash, but instead he made another ripple: According toa 538/Washington Post/Ipsos pollof likely Republican primary voters after the debate, he got the lowest share of people saying he did the best.
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Most of the attention he got was over the revelation of his girlfriend, Mindy Noce, who stepped on stage (and in front of the cameras) to share a brief moment with him when the debate ended.
Scott resistedthe interest in his personal life, previously saying he didn't want to drag someone on the trail unless they were going to marry. But a campaign official told ABC News that Noce's attendance -- the two have been dating for about a year -- was a part of Scott's commitment to being his authentic self.
On Thursday, in Des Moines, he pitched himself one last time as the best choice to be the next president of the United States.
He spoke about his humble beginnings and how it led to him being a public servant. Like he so often does, he occasionally jumped up from his chair to "preach." But unlike other engagements, he wasn't met with the same level of enthusiasm. At the conclusion, only four people asked him questions, one of them being who his favorite founding father was, with the host having to goad the audience into participating with Scott.
"Other questions? No more questions? There's a presidential candidate right here," he said.
Scott's usual exuberance, which so often spread to his audience, was completely missing. Some voters seemed puzzled, even frustrated, about the road ahead.
"I do not recognize the Republican Party," a lifelong conservative Bill Kimberley said to Scott at the dinner. "The majority of this country is in the middle and we want to work together ... it's time that the Republican Party got their soul back."
A majority of GOP voters don't look like they share Kimberly's view: Former President Donald Trump retains a tight hold on the party's base. His nearest competitor is a full 42 points behind him in national polls,according to 538's average.
As of Sunday, when he dropped out, Scott trailed all but two of them.
'I was not called to win'
In hindsight, Scott's campaign began winding down over the weekend after the debate.
I woke up Friday morning to begin a two-hour drive to Carroll, Iowa, for a meet-and-greet at yet another Pizza Ranch, a popular Midwest chain that's become a common retail stop for Republican campaigns in the key early voting state. I was about 20 minutes away before I got a text from Scott's team informing me that he had the flu and would be canceling all five of his remaining events that weekend.
After recuperating in Charleston, South Carolina, "he looks forward to being back in the Hawkeye State next week," the campaign told me.
Too close to turn around, I decided to continue my drive to Pizza Ranch where I was greeted by a friendly Iowa staffer who was disappointed that Scott's events were scrapped -- having planned some of them himself -- but excited for what was to come.
The staffer told me that he was able to finally stop working remotely and see his coworkers face to face. The Scott campaign had just opened a new office in West Des Moines as part of their plan to go "all in" for the caucus in January after pulling their TV ads and consolidating their resources from South Carolina and New Hampshire.
On Sunday, after a quiet weekend at home, Scott appeared on his friend Trey Gowdy's Fox News show to announce that he wouldn't be doing any of that after all.
"When I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign," he said. "I think I was called to run. I was not called to win."
Not only was Gowdy visibly shocked by the revelation -- at one point during the interview he said, "I'm trying to process this information" -- so were his staff.
Multiple aides confirmed to ABC News that they had no idea what was coming. Sources familiar with the campaign said that Scott and his campaign manager, Jennifer DeCasper, held an emotional, roughly five-minute all-hands call on Sunday in which they thanked staff for their dedication and hard work.
The brevity of the call left many questions, with the most pressing -- for the campaign workers -- being the fate of the eager field staff in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, all hoping to keep their paychecks for the upcoming holiday season.
A senior campaign official said that "they'll make sure folks are taken care of" with packages and new jobs.
But a staffer who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to be candid expressed concern and frustration at the apparent lack of planning. This person said they have "no hard feelings" for the senator and called his decision to drop out a good thing for him in the long run. But they also said they were not aware of any plan for what is to become of the larger campaign team.
Scott has sought to reassure those who supported him: According to one source, he spoke at his Charleston campaign headquarters for more than an hour on Monday, taking photos and tossing around footballs with aides. He assured them that they would be taken care of.
Sensing the end
Scott entered the 2024 race with widespread goodwill in his party, a large financial edge and a distinctive backstory -- and he ran into the same issue faced by Trump's other primary rivals: According to the polls, Republican voters prefer Trump to everyone else.
What started off as a campaign "rooted in optimism" turned into a sputtering albeit somewhat friendly campaign.
Even as Scott changed up his style in the final weeks, embracing attacks on other candidates, one thing everyone around him seemed able to agree on was just how "nice" the senator could be -- and it wasn't just voters who had a fondness for him.
Once Scott left the race, his opponents were quick to compliment him.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie lauded his "integrity and honesty," fellow South Carolinian Nikki Haley said he was a "good man," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis praised his "bold ideas" and Vivek Ramaswamy called him a "good dude."
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who also recently dropped out and like Scott is already fielding entreaties from DeSantis' team about consolidating against Trump, sources said, thanked Scott for his "principled leadership."
Over the 25 weeks I spent following Scott as ABC News' "embedded" reporter on his campaign, I, too, noticed how nice he was on the trail.
But Scott's "happy warrior" persona often worked against him: Voters were quick to ask if he was actually too nice to get the job done.
He has not indicated who he will endorse in the Republican primary, telling donors in a statement: "I am going to remain committed to making sure that this country chooses the right person by enjoying the journey of just helping people." He indicated that he might run again at "another opportunity."
His last campaign stop, in Iowa on Thursday, was the saddest one I'd seen -- empty of the energy and jokes that I was used to. It was the only time I saw Scott with a crowd that wasn't excited for him.
Maybe he felt it, too.
