Huntsman Expected to Drop Out Today and Endorse Romney     Permalink

Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who thought he would be an alternative to Mitt Romney but didn't catch on, is expected to drop out of the race and endorse fellow Mormon Romney today. Huntsman has no chance at all in Saturday's South Carolina primary. Maybe he is angling for a position Romney's cabinet if he wins. If he liked being an ambasador, he could have stuck with the job he already had (ambassador to China), after all. Early on, he probably thought he was more-or-less equivalent to Romney but without all the flip flopping, but he also didn't have the 5 years of careful preparation, name recognition, and thousands of contacts all over the country that Romney had. That said, Huntsman's dropping out is not likely to make much of a difference in South Carolina since he wasn't going to get many votes and his endorsement means little to people who weren't going to vote for him anyway (and only marginally more to those who were).

Why is the Republican Field So Weak?     Permalink

Fried Hiatt of the Washington Post wrote an excellent piece today about why the Republican field is so weak this year. Some of his hypotheses are:

• In 2009, all the 'serious' Republicans thought the race was hopeless (like the 'serious' Democrats in 1992)
• Everyone thought the process was repellent, making you suck up to millionaires to raise money
• Serious people realize the next President has to cut health care costs and that will be extremely unpleasant
• Having to govern with a restive base that is unwilling to compromise is an impossible task

South Carolina Debate Tonight     Permalink

The first of two South Carolina debates is tonight in Myrtle Beach. The second one is on Thursday in Charleston. The primary has become an all-out civil war within the Republican party and it will be interesting to see if the candidates attacking Romney tooth and nail on TV will go after Romney in person tonight. Remember, what seems like thousands of years ago, Tim Pawlenty coined a new word, "Obamneycare" and used it to great effect off stage. But when he was asked to repeat it on stage with Romney present, he wouldn't do it. The media basically called him a coward and that was the end of his campaign. With Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry running ads in South Carolina calling Romney every name in the book, it will be interesting to see if they are willing to do it to his face. If they do, we could have some real fireworks. Also significant is how Rick Santorum does now that the social conservative leaders have settled on him as the not-Romney. This new support could give him the confidence to ignore Gingrich and Perry as dead meat and focus his fire on Romney.

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