Huntsman to Quit Presidential Race, Endorse Romney

Jon Huntsman will drop out of the Republican presidential race and will endorse frontrunner Mitt Romney, according to his campaign sources. He has informed his campaign advisers that he is quitting and is expected to make the announcement on Monday during a speech at Myrtle beach, South Carolina.

He decided to end his campaign, in less than a week after his disappointing performance in the New Hampshire primary. Huntsman announced his decision to run for presidency in June 2011, after quitting his position as ambassador to China under Obama administration.

Huntsman decided to withdraw after days of pondering over his campaign's future that failed to rise to the expectations. Huntsman who had promised of a decent, civilized and mature campaigning actually got shadowed by his rivals who were better prepared than him in terms of funds and groundwork.

The governor and his family, at this point in the race, decided it was time for Republicans to rally around a candidate who could beat Barack Obama and turn around the economy. That candidate is Gov. Mitt Romney, said Matt David, campaign manager of Huntsman, according to a New York Times Report.

It was expected that Huntsman would be forced to quit, if not now at least after the S.C. primary, since he couldn't make much impact there. What is interesting is his decision to endorse Romney, a rival candidate whom he was highly critical of.

Throughout his campaign he had criticized Romney for his record, outrightly proclaiming, we cannot afford to vote a corrupted person as American President. He had said,Romney is slightly out of touch with the economic reality playing in America right now in his reaction to Romney's statement that he likes being able to fire people.

It is ironical that he has come forward to endorse the same candidate whom he was criticizing heavily. However, the Huntsman endorsement might help Romney gain the support of conservatives and also help consolidating the Mormon votes.