Chicago ? After just 86 days in the race, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack could well have more influence on the presidential nomination process from outside the contest than he did from inside.

With his announcement Friday that he is dropping out of the crowded Democratic field, Vilsack goes from being at the bottom of national polls to being in a position where he could deliver a helpful endorsement – and the remnants of a political operation – to another candidate.

His departure is already sending significant ripples through the Democratic field, freeing up Iowa activists, campaign strategists and elected officials who were backing Vilsack out of a sense of loyalty to his lengthy service in a state where the nation’s first voting will happen in less than a year.

For his part, the former governor said he has no plans to immediately endorse any candidate, although the lobbying process for his support and the backing of some of his key campaign leadership is clearly already under way.

In dropping out, Vilsack, who was polling fourth in Iowa, said he was a victim of the high-dollar fundraising that increasingly dominates the nomination process.

“We have to have a real debate about public financing and the ability to enable the primary and caucus process to be about ideas … not just simply about a money primary,” he said at a news conference in Des Moines. “That’s the game that’s being played today, and it’s a game that obviously I was not able to play as successfully as I wanted to.”

Through Dec. 31, Vilsack had raised $1.1 million, but had only about $396,000 on hand. Top-tier candidates, meanwhile, are raising millions of dollars in a single evening with the expectation that it will take at least $50 million to have a serious shot at winning the nomination in 2008.