Huntsman to withdraw from race for Republican presidential nomination

[Geee]

Fox News:

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman will withdraw his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Fox News confirmed Sunday.

Huntsman is set to announce his withdrawal from the race Monday at 11:00 a.m. at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in South Carolina, at which time he will endorse GOP candidate Mitt Romney.

After several days of discussion with his family, friends and campaign advisers, the former Obama administration Ambassador to China told aides he is ending his presidential campaign.


"Governor Huntsman was encouraged in New Hampshire, but does not want to stand in the way of the best candidate to beat Barack Obama and will endorse Romney tomorrow," an aide for Huntsman told Fox News.

South Carolina senior staffers for Huntsman say they are "stunned," but partially relieved because they feel the state had been neglected by a lack of resources and attention.

"(The) Campaign never put serious resources ... to promote his serious conservative record that would have beaten Obama," Regional Southeast Political Director Adam Piper told Fox News.

Meanwhile, Romney's campaign staffers were taken by surprise by the announcement of Huntsman's withdrawal and planned endorsement, but are working to ensure their candidate attends the announcement Monday.

The former Utah governor placed third in last week's New Hampshire primary despite devoting most of his campaign resources to the state. He had already acknowledged that expectations for him in South Carolina's primary this week will be "very low."

Word of the Huntsman withdrawal came on the same day The State, South Carolina's largest newspaper, endorsed him for president.

[Valin]

Yopu beat me to it.

 

 

 

[Geee]

And I was even late this morning because of my little house guest

[Valin]

And I was even late this morning because of my little house guest

 

 

His major problem was...Jon Huntsman, a Republican for people who don't vote Republican.

 

In the general election he might have done fine (he did bring some real pluses to the table), but given the rightward swing of the party in the last 30-40 years, he never had a chance.

Well he's gone and this is good for Romney.

 

IMO two of the not-Romney candidates need to get out, otherwise Romney is the candidate. And I am not convinced that is a good thing.

[Valin]

Hot Air: Who’s responsible for Huntsman flameout?

Ed Morrissey

January 16, 2012

 

I mean apart from the candidate himself, of course, who strode through the Republican primary process like an long-jilted boyfriend attending the wedding of a high-school sweetheart trying to prove that the bride was making a terrible mistake. It didn’t take long for consensus to form online as to who gets the blame, both for Jon Huntsman’s failure and for convincing Huntsman to make a fool of himself in the first place. Ben Smith at BuzzFeed says to look no further than John McCain’s old campaign adviser, John Weaver:

 

(Snip)

 

 

The ghost of John McCain returns.