After his poor showing Tuesday in the GOP primary, Richard Vinroot's candidacy for governor was like a tub of water after the stopper had been pulled.

His best move was to step out.

Former state Sen. Patrick Ballantine of Wilmington had all the momentum heading for a possible runoff Aug. 17. Vinroot, a towering figure during the past decade in the North Carolina Republican Party -- figuratively and literally -- had only cold political reality.

"He felt, through no fault of his own, he was suddenly faced with a diminishing chance of defeating an incumbent unless a lot of good things happened," said Bob Bradshaw, Vinroot's old law partner and political godfather.

"He felt like he had run a good race. He worked very hard. But he didn't see the momentum on his side in the runoff."

Although Vinroot has always been a good fund-raiser, his disappointing finish might have turned down the spigot as he tried to bring in enough cash to compete with Ballantine.

"He could have raised it," Bradshaw said. "Whether he would have raised enough to be competitive and blunt the [Ballantine] surge -- I don't know."

Vinroot's decision is a coda on a political career that never quite delivered on its promise.

He was recruited into politics by Bradshaw and the late legendary political operative Brad Hays, who saw him as a potential successor to former Gov. Jim Martin (1985-93), another Charlottean and the most recent Republican to occupy the Executive Mansion.

Vinroot was a popular and successful Charlotte mayor. He had a diamond-studded resume: Vietnam veteran, Morehead scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill, a 6-foot-7 former Carolina basketball player, Sunday school teacher, Boy Scout leader.

So why did he fail in three consecutive runs for governor, starting in 1996?

Although Vinroot could be charming and genuine in private conversation, that side of him did not always come across to voters. Many voters were put off by his stern Swedish manner, his towering size and his fierce competitive drive.

During the 2000 governor's race, Vinroot called Democrat Mike Easley, who is 5 feet 10, "a little fellow," and he would try to make Easley grimace in front of the cameras by squeezing his rival's hand in an iron grip.

This primary season, Vinroot may have torpedoed Bill Cobey's gubernatorial candidacy by attacking him for voting to raise taxes while in Congress. Just Wednesday, Vinroot went after Ballantine as "Easley light" and a profligate spender.

So he left some hard feelings among his rivals.

"Quite honestly, if anybody for one second thinks that Richard Vinroot walked away from this on behalf of the Republican Party or in some way to help the Republican Party, that's a joke," said Ron Anderson, a Cobey political consultant. "He did it because he couldn't win."

Vinroot joins the growing list of victims of the Charlotte jinx. A series of Charlotte political figures, including Harvey Gantt, Eddie Knox and Sue Myrick, have failed to win major statewide office. The only Charlottean to win major office in recent decades was Martin -- and he made sure to claim nearby Lake Norman in Iredell County as his residence.

Schley Lyons, a political scientist at UNC-Charlotte, said hailing from the Queen City "is not necessarily an advantage."

"It is a big city, and a lot of North Carolina is very rural," he said. "In a lot of ways we are not like major parts of the state."

And in a Republican Party with a strong Baptist, sweet-tea influence, Vinroot seemed culturally tin-eared when he held his campaign party Tuesday night in the Sunset Club, a Charlotte cigar bar.

Vinroot also seemed to have a problem establishing a political identity. He was regarded as a moderate as mayor of Charlotte. After losing to conservative Robin Hayes in the 1996 GOP primary, he moved sharply to the right. But he was never wholly embraced by conservatives, and he lost some of his support among moderates.

"He was a popular mayor and did very well," Lyons said. "When he ran for statewide office he morphed into this extremely conservative position. It sort of surprised a lot of people who followed his career. All of a sudden he sounded more strident about the need to cut back government."

In Tuesday's primary, Vinroot barely reached 30 percent of the vote -- meaning that 70 percent wanted someone else to be the GOP nominee this year.

Thursday, that person became Ballantine.