Romney in the lead as Huntsman quits race
Source: Agencies |
January 17, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
US Republican candidate Jon Huntsman said yesterday he was suspending his presidential campaign and would endorse front-runner Mitt Romney.
Huntsman, a moderate Republican, lagged in opinion polls and finished third in last week's New Hampshire primary despite a huge campaigning effort there.
Conservative Republicans mistrusted him for working for Democratic President Barack Obama as US ambassador to China.
"This race has degenerated into an onslaught of negative and personal attacks not worthy of the American people and not worthy of this critical time in our nation's history," Huntsman said yesterday.
"I call on each campaign to cease attacking each other and instead talk directly to the American people about how our conservative ideas will create jobs, reduce our nation's debt, stabilize energy prices and provide a brighter future for our children and our grandchildren.''
His departure from the race and endorsement could provide a modest boost for fellow Mormon Romney, who is ahead in South Carolina after winning the first two nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
While a majority of Republicans don't trust Romney because of his moderate past, they have been unable to settle their support on the more-conservative alternatives: Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives; Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, or Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Small-government libertarian candidate Ron Paul, a Texas congressman, likewise has failed to rally sufficient support to make him a serious challenger to Romney in the first primary vote in America's deep South.
Republicans now seem to be slowly converging on Romney as the best of the Republican field to deny Obama a second term in the White House.
Obama's incumbency is heavily weighed down by the struggling US economy that has been slow to pull out of the Great Recession of 2007-2009.
Unemployment remains high, and millions of Americans have lost their homes to mortgage foreclosures.
Polls show Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who struggled to a fourth-place finish in South Carolina during his 2008 White House run, with a comfortable lead heading into Saturday's vote.
Huntsman, a moderate Republican, lagged in opinion polls and finished third in last week's New Hampshire primary despite a huge campaigning effort there.
Conservative Republicans mistrusted him for working for Democratic President Barack Obama as US ambassador to China.
"This race has degenerated into an onslaught of negative and personal attacks not worthy of the American people and not worthy of this critical time in our nation's history," Huntsman said yesterday.
"I call on each campaign to cease attacking each other and instead talk directly to the American people about how our conservative ideas will create jobs, reduce our nation's debt, stabilize energy prices and provide a brighter future for our children and our grandchildren.''
His departure from the race and endorsement could provide a modest boost for fellow Mormon Romney, who is ahead in South Carolina after winning the first two nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
While a majority of Republicans don't trust Romney because of his moderate past, they have been unable to settle their support on the more-conservative alternatives: Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives; Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, or Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Small-government libertarian candidate Ron Paul, a Texas congressman, likewise has failed to rally sufficient support to make him a serious challenger to Romney in the first primary vote in America's deep South.
Republicans now seem to be slowly converging on Romney as the best of the Republican field to deny Obama a second term in the White House.
Obama's incumbency is heavily weighed down by the struggling US economy that has been slow to pull out of the Great Recession of 2007-2009.
Unemployment remains high, and millions of Americans have lost their homes to mortgage foreclosures.
Polls show Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who struggled to a fourth-place finish in South Carolina during his 2008 White House run, with a comfortable lead heading into Saturday's vote.
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