CONCORD, N.H. -- A last-minute announcement from former Florida Gov. Claude Kirk Jr. made him the 30th and final presidential entry in the record field for the Feb. 28 New Hampshire primary.
A letter announcing Kirk's candidacy and a required $1,000 filing fee check arrived minutes before the 5 p.m. deadline Tuesday. Kirk - Florida's only Republican governor since the Reconstruction era and one of its most colorful political figures -- served from 1967 to 1971.
Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., also filed as expected Tuesday.
Although the record field of 30 is almost twice the previous mark of 16 set in 1976, only eight of the Democratic candidates and President Reagan on the Republican side are viewed as major contenders.
Two men also entered the 1984 first-in-the-nation primary as vice presidential candidates.
After an unsuccessful run for governor as an independent in 1978, Kirk became a Democrat and announced he was running for the presidency last spring. But unlike Reubin Askew, a fellow former Florida governor, Kirk has yet to establish a campaign network in New Hampshire and is not considered one of the major candidates.
Kirk is one of 25 Democrats to enter the presidential primary. There are five Republicans entered, including Reagan and perennial presidential hopeful Harold Stassen, a former Republican governor of Minnesota.
In addition to Hart and Askew, the other six major Democrats who have filed during the three-week filing period are Sen. Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, Jesse Jackson, Sen. John Glenn of Ohio, Sen. Alan Cranston of California, former Vice President Walter Mondale and former Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota.
In a move to discourage fringe candidates this year, New Hampshire raised the primary filing fee from $500 to $1,000. Robert Ambrose, deputy secretary of state, could not explain the record field.
'I don't know why there is so much interest,' said Ambrose. 'I think it just grows every year. Maybe it's like diamonds -- the higher price, the more people buy.'
