The GOP 2012 Primary Deathmatch: Update 1/19, Rick Perry falls

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**Ouze**

WaPo wrote:Jon Huntsman to quit presidential race, endorse Mitt Romney

By Chris Cillizza and Phil Rucker, Sunday, January 15, 8:39 PM

Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman has decided to end his presidential candidacy and will formally exit the race on Monday, according to two sources briefed on his thinking. He is expected to endorse former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

“This was his decision alone,” said one former adviser. “Alone.”

Huntsman had pledged to soldier on after a disappointing third place finish last week in New Hampshire’s primary. He insisted his showing amounted to a “ticket to ride” to South Carolina.

But, political reality seems to have hit Huntsman and his team over the last few days as polling in the Palmetto State, which will hold its primary on Jan. 21, showed him in single digits.

"There was no sense standing in the way of Romney,” said one Huntsman adviser. "Every vote we took in South Carolina and Florida was from him."

Huntsman’s decision comes less than 24 hours before the six remaining candidates were scheduled to take the stage in Myrtle Beach for a debate. It was one of two debates set for the week, a prospect Huntsman didn’t relish.

Huntsman’s campaign, which was built by a team of advisers while he was still in China serving as the U.S. Ambassador to that country, never seemed to gain the necessary altitude to boost him into the top tier.

He was, from the start, a media darling — profiled in a variety of national magazines and newspapers. His daughters — the three oldest — became a social media phenomenon known as the “Jon2012” girls.

And yet, for all of the buzz surrounding Huntsman, he never seemed able to put it all together. While his campaign aides insisted the Republican electorate was ready for a common sense conservative, Huntsman’s moderation — in tone if not in all of his policies — left him as a man without an obvious constituency within the Republican party.

His early performances on the campaign trail and in debates didn’t help matters. He was wooden and lacking in charisma; his reference to a Nirvana song during one early debate left the political world scratching its collective head about just who he was appealing to.

Huntsman also struggled to raise money although a super PAC with his father’s financial backing did spend heavily on his behalf in New Hampshire.

But, after deciding to skip Iowa’s caucuses, the New Hampshire primary turned into an all or nothing gamble for him. Huntsman lavished attention on the state and gained some momentum in the closing days before the Granite State vote but still finished well behind Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

His decision to quit the race and throw his support behind Romney should help the former Massachusetts governor in South Carolina as he is now the lone candidate in the field making a direct appeal to the establishment wing of the GOP.

Polling suggest Romney, who has already won the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, is the frontrunner in South Carolina although former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum are also heavily targeting the state.

Huntsman is the second candidate to quit the race since voting began in Iowa on Jan. 3. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann stepped aside after a disappointing finish in Iowa.

© The Washington Post Company

source

Too bad, I rather liked him.

**Joey**

Hadn't even heard of him.
All I know is there's some centrist guy called romney, a loonatic called Ron Paul (whom many regard as sensible for some reason) and that's it.

**Shadowseer_Kim**

Not a real shocker that Huntsman dropped out, or that he is endorsing Romney.

Huntsman was probably the most populace, and liberal of all the candidates for the Republican ticket. He was the darling of the left and the mass media (mostly left).

**AustonT**

And Romney is his cousin.

**dogma**

I did not know that.

Weird, is the word.

**AustonT**

Distant but not THAT distant cousins of the same prominent Mormon family. They are like LDS royalty.

**Joey**

They're both deamons?

**sebster**

Primary polling says Huntsman voters support Romney as their second candidate more than any other. It's like 35% as Romney as their second, then 20% as undecided, then Ron Paul at 15%.

So this will help Romney, not that it looks like he needs much more help at this point.

**Kid_Kyoto**

Shame, early on someone asked all the Republican candiadates about evolution, Huntsman was the only one who said it's science and it should be taught.

The. Only. One.

He was really the only republican I would have voted for.

**Ahtman**

Could this mean Romney/Huntsman 2012?

**Easy E**

No. Romney is all ready the Centrist on the ticket. They need a "strong" conservative for VP. This spot is being run for by Santorum at the moment.

Newt has screwed himself out of any position, not that he had a chance anyway; after going after Romney hard.

Perry and Bachman have no base to bring to the table. They were out "conservatived" by Santorum.

**AustonT**

I don't think the RNC will pick anyone from the primaries, my best guess is a former governor that hiertofor has not been mentioned. But not from Alaska...

**Ahtman**

Easy E wrote:No. Romney is all ready the Centrist on the ticket. They need a "strong" conservative for VP. This spot is being run for by Santorum at the moment.

That strategy worked so well for McCain. If they want to lose make Santorum VP, if they want to have a real shot at beating an incumbent, they should go with Huntsman. Getting their far rights approval and losing isn't much of a consolation prize.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

AustonT wrote:I don't think the RNC will pick anyone from the primaries, my best guess is a former governor that hiertofor has not been mentioned. But not from Alaska...

I agree that is the most likely outcome.

**Easy E**

Ahtman wrote:
Easy E wrote:No. Romney is all ready the Centrist on the ticket. They need a "strong" conservative for VP. This spot is being run for by Santorum at the moment.

That strategy worked so well for McCain. If they want to lose make Santorum VP, if they want to have a real shot at beating an incumbent, they should go with Huntsman. Getting their far rights approval and losing isn't much of a consolation prize.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

AustonT wrote:I don't think the RNC will pick anyone from the primaries, my best guess is a former governor that hiertofor has not been mentioned. But not from Alaska...

I agree that is the most likely outcome.

You have to give your base a reason to vote. Romney isn't it.

**Ahtman**

Easy E wrote:You have to give your base a reason to vote. Romney isn't it.

If that were as true as people wanted to believe he wouldn't continually win primaries. He may not be the darling the extreme side of the base wants, but he has enough base support to be the clear frontrunner, and has been for sometime. The rest come and go. In the end Republicans can either have a moderate Republican in the White House and vote for Romney or not vote at all and give it to Obama. Far right conservatives are not well like in national campaigns.

**Ouze**

I think a Romney/Huntsman team would stand a reasonable chance at beating Obama, all things being equal.

I am pretty sure the tea party will force Santorum onto the ticket, and into oblivion.

**Ahtman**

Colbert Super PAC strikes first against Romney

**sourclams**

I think the best way to re-elect Obama in 2012 would be to try to water the Republican ticket down with heavy doses of social conservatism.

Lub Jaysus, hate gays, abortion is murder, and make church mandatory are all fantastic ways to chase social moderates straight to the Democrats.

Romney is just conservative enough to be a viable Not-Obama. Conservatives aren't so much voting for a Great White Champion as they are a Not-Obama. Just get someone viable in that can focus on economic issues and he should have a chance at unseating the incumbent.

Please don't try and bypass the language filter.

Reds8n

**Shadowseer_Kim**

Pay attetion people, as of right now, there has officially been ONE primary. Romney has won a whopping one primary, and one cacaus (where they do not event send delegates)

The one primary so far that he did win is open voting. Meaning that non republicans are allowed to vote in the Republican primary, and in the Democratic primary as well if they were having one.

Yes the press makes a lot of hay over it, but it nowhere close to over people.

Last time around McCain didn't come out to the top until a week or so after super Tuesday, when a large number o fsouthern states went to Huckabee. It was Huckabee at the time who then dropped out and pledged all his delegates to McCain, putting him from about 3rd, to first.

Romney is unlikely to win in all of those states. I hate to say it but the southern "evangelical" vote, probably will not vote for a mormon. Simple as that.

If you are a registered Democrat, and left leaning, why on earth would anyone on the Republican side listen to your opinion on what would be the best chance for a Republican ticket???!!!

Seriously, you are voting Obama, your opinion on this has no weight, I say this of the mass media as well. They love to say "What the Republicans need to do to stand a chance is ________." Sadly, some people still listen to them, of the net effect of hearing the same guys name over and over and over and over for half a year finally sinks to far into thier brains, they just vote for them.

**Chowderhead**

Kim, there has been 2. Romney has won both, and he's probably going to win SC.

NOTE: I hate Romney. I'm a crazy liberal.

**Ahtman**

Shadowseer_Kim wrote:If you are a registered Democrat, and left leaning, why on earth would anyone on the Republican side listen to your opinion on what would be the best chance for a Republican ticket???!!!

Seriously, you are voting Obama, your opinion on this has no weight, I say this of the mass media as well. They love to say "What the Republicans need to do to stand a chance is ________." Sadly, some people still listen to them, of the net effect of hearing the same guys name over and over and over and over for half a year finally sinks to far into thier brains, they just vote for them.

Where in this discussion has someone claimed to be a registered Democrat? As for left leaning you might need to be more specific. Left leaning of Santorum is still fairly right, in American politics. People exist outside the Democratic and Republican parties, and they are allowed to have thoughts on the matter as they are also going to vote in a national election. People also don't always fit into little political bundles of only right and only left. It is entirely possible for a person to vote for one parties candidate one election and then vote for another party's candidate the next.

There is also a difference between noting what a candidate needs to do to win a national election and to win in a party primary. No Republican (or Democrat) will win a Presidential election on their party alone. They need to be able to appeal to more than just the moderate and extreme wings of their party. Trying to figure out how to not alienate to much of ones base while gaining the most non-party (ie majority of Americans) votes is *gasp* politics.

**sourclams**

Shadowseer_Kim wrote:Pay attetion people, as of right now, there has officially been ONE primary. Romney has won a whopping one primary, and one cacaus (where they do not event send delegates)

Romney won Iowa by the thinnest of slivers (really it was a tie Romney-Santorum), then he went on to take New Hampshire by a landslide. Romney is currently heavily favored in SC as well, with a little over 30% of the vote while Newt is in second and Ron Paul and Santorum play for a distant third.

Romney is the obvious front-runner, and at this point success is likely to beget more success--and the fact that the GOP bench has found no one better is not the least of factors contributing to the consolidation of his lead.

Although the deep south has few ties to Mormons, they can also probably respect a man who obviously has and practices his faith.

**Shadowseer_Kim**

Again people, pay attention. Iowa, NOT a primary. they do not send delegates to the convention. 20 delegates have been won by Romney, 12 by Santorum, 3 by Paul, 2 for Huntsman, and zero everyone else. Now I suppose you can say Romney has 22, assuming the 2 Huntsman delegates follow his wishes, (which by the rules, they are NOT required to do.)

The number of delegates you need before you win the nomination is 1144. This is far from over, and Romney may be the clear frontrunner now after one primary, but that speaks to nothing of the long term race.

I never specifically accused of anyone being a registered Democrat, not that there is anything wrong with it.

I just wanted to get out in front of that one. A lot of people tend to say the same things on this forum, that the mass mainstream media say.

As for how to persuade the middle, fence sitting undecided crowd, or fed up Democrat voters. My opinion says, give the voters something different than what they have already. Significantly different.

One of the biggest problems for McCain in 2008 was that he is basically a Democrat with an R next to his name.

Nominating someone in that centre/moderate closer to Democrat spectrum is probably not the way to go/ It usually backfires, as the swing voters have a difficult time picking the major differences between such candidates, and when in such a predicament tend to vote Democrat.

I personally wish the primaries were all voted at once on the same day, after months of campaiging, debates and advertisements. Then the real election campaigning will begin.

The way it is now, someone wins the first and sometimes second primary, and it is usually off to the races, with a lot of Western states votes not really ever counting towards the process.

I live in Oregon, where the primaries are in May. It will most likely be decided before then. It usually is for all the parties. Yet another reason in the long list of reasons why I do not bother with the idea of registing with a party.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh wow, Iowa apparent does send delegates. They have such a whacky primary process, I didn't think they did.

Sorry about that, I was incorrect.

**Hulksmash**

Ahtman wrote:Colbert Super PAC strikes first against Romney

I love those guys. They make me smile

**Melissia**

sourclams wrote:Lub Jaysus, hate gays, abortion is murder, and make church mandatory are all fantastic ways to chase social moderates straight to the Democrats.

At the very least it's a way to unite the Democrat base, and since dems often have more sway over centrists/undecideds than republicans, this can be important.

**Piston Honda**

Ahtman wrote:Colbert Super PAC strikes first against Romney

Well, I guess my few bucks I donated just so I can see my name on TV is being used effectively.

**biccat**

Ahtman wrote:Colbert Super PAC strikes first against Romney

Glad to see Stewart has abandoned any last vestige of impartiality.

**Ahtman**

biccat wrote:
Ahtman wrote:Colbert Super PAC strikes first against Romney

Glad to see Stewart has abandoned any last vestige of impartiality.

Stupid comedians not being impartial. Don't they know the law?

or

Super PACs, bastions of neutrality.

**dogma**

Easy E wrote:
You have to give your base a reason to vote. Romney isn't it.

The base hates Obama, that will be their reason to vote.

biccat wrote:
Glad to see Stewart has abandoned any last vestige of impartiality.

So, you'll be sponsoring him for membership at the relevant country club?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Shadowseer_Kim wrote:
If you are a registered Democrat, and left leaning, why on earth would anyone on the Republican side listen to your opinion on what would be the best chance for a Republican ticket???!!!

Seriously, you are voting Obama, your opinion on this has no weight, I say this of the mass media as well.

I assume "political strategist" is not your vocation.

**biccat**

Ahtman wrote:
biccat wrote:
Ahtman wrote:Colbert Super PAC strikes first against Romney

Glad to see Stewart has abandoned any last vestige of impartiality.

Stupid comedians not being impartial. Don't they know the law?

I never said they had to be impartial. But it certainly blows the lid off of his "I'm just a comedian" schtick.

dogma wrote:
biccat wrote:
Glad to see Stewart has abandoned any last vestige of impartiality.

So, you'll be sponsoring him for membership at the relevant country club?

I have no idea what that means. I'm just going to assume you're trying to be insulting.