Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman has gotten a lot of buzz since entering the Republican presidential race last spring, but he's never been able to translate that into votes. After months of focused campaigning in the state, he came away from the New Hampshire primary with a disappointing third-place finish. Despite this, he continued on to South Carolina in an attempt to revive his bid for the GOP nomination. But after a week of campaigning-and a lackluster reception from voters-he's calling it quits:
Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman will drop out of the White House race on Monday and endorse former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a senior Huntsman campaign official said on Sunday.
The official said Huntsman, a former Utah governor, was "proud of the race he ran." Ultimately, he "didn't want to stand in the way of the person with the best chance to beat President (Barack) Obama," the official told Reuters.
According to the most recent survey from Rasmussen, Huntsman had 5 percent support from South Carolina Republicans. Given that Huntsman was a variation on Mitt Romney-"reasonable Mormon governor"-some of that support should now move to the former Massachusetts governor.
