Huntsman Out

Yes, it was over for Huntsman in Iowa, maybe it was over for him before Iowa. But the fact that his campaign was going exactly nowhere should have been impressed on him in New Hampshire.   I guess he finally understood his effort should come to and end, although maybe his decision was aided by his father's decision to quit funding his son's campaign.  At least now his campaign staffers can move on to other campaigns.  I think the Xin Hua News said it most accurately:

"He is a moderate, which works against him in the conservative-dominated Republican primaries. He also faces challenges from his Mormon faith and experience of working for a Democratic president."

Heh.. yeah.

I think this bodes well for Obama. It signals that the GOP base is stuck in FarRight-ville and rather than tack to the Center for the general election, they will be forced to try to drag enough Independents and disaffected Dems to the Far Right, and that's going to be a tough slog, in my opinion.  

You know you're politically toast when....Steven Colbert polls ahead of you.

Curious timing so soon after he vowed to carry on to South Carolina. And then followed by an immediate endorsement of Romney. It reminds me of the way Chris Christie announced his non-candidacy and immediately turned into a super-cheerleader for Romney.

PS...

While Mr. Romney and Mr. Huntsman were both here in Charleston, aides said the two men had not spoken Sunday evening. When approached at a downtown restaurant here, a table of senior advisers to Mr. Romney declined to discuss the endorsement.

I go with the view that he's running for 2016. If he is seen as not having backed Romney it does him no good. But if Romney loses, he can use what is perceived as Romney's own mistakes to his benefit as he tries a more moderate primary bid.