Jon Huntsman has dropped out, giving his support to Mitt Romney. Or throwing Romney to the sharks, depending on how you see it...
Mr. Huntsman’s decision was unlikely to have any particular influence where Mr. Romney needs it most, among social and religious conservatives who remain wary of Mr. Romney’s ideological inconsistency. With the withdrawal of Mr. Huntsman, who despite his efforts to portray himself as more conservative than Mr. Romney was often viewed as the moderate in the race, the South Carolina primary is now Mr. Romney against an array of opponents coming at him from the right. ...NYT
Newt Gingrich seems to think he will benefit most from Huntsman's decision to quit.
Now, as the evangelicals and libertarians duke it out in the lower ranks, it is Romney and corporate-"establishment" Republicans who will benefit most from Huntsman's departure. The Washington Post is already counting up delegates (on the fingers of a couple of hands, at most).
With Romney now at the front of the pack, the word "vulture," used as an adjective is popping up everywhere, including (not inappropriately) the Golden Globes.
...From the heavy dresses on display you would think that Blake and Krystle Carrington had returned for another episode of “Dynasty.” More than merely stiff, with armor-plated bodices, icy satins and pedestal-like hems of ruffles, there was something predatory about many of these dresses, a kind of vulture couture. ...NYT
Fred Hiatt, writing in the Post, asks why the Republican field has been so weak.
It could be that more serious presidential candidates, sizing up the incumbent in 2009, when serious campaigns had to begin, decided, not illogically, that President Obama was likely to win. Let someone else be the John Kerry of the Republican Party. Come back in 2016.
It could be that the process has devolved, for some, from daunting to repellent: the number of millionaires whose egos must be stroked on the way to raising $1 billion, the smears from unaccountable political action committees, the dwindling media interest in substance, the Twitter-paced cycle that makes the Clinton war room look like something from the vacuum-tube era — it may be a quadrennial bar to many people of quality. ...WaPo
