…And Then There Were Five

Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman dropped out of the running for the GOP nomination today in South Carolina.  This comes a mere six days after coming in third in the New Hampshire Primary and declaring he had a “ticket to ride” in the Palmetto State.

Huntsman has been called everything today from a moderate (which he is) to mini-Romney (which is somewhat laughable).  The reason Huntsman never caught on had nothing to do with the fact that he was “Mini-Mitt.”  His problem was his organization.

There were no campaign ads on television here in New Hampshire until 5 days before voting.  Any ad on behalf of the candidate was paid for and run by a Super PAC.  There also was hardly any signage for Huntsman here in New Hampshire.  The landscape was littered with Mitt Romney and Ron Paul as far as the eye could see, but you couldn’t find a Huntsman sign if you were looking for one.

Jon Huntsman put all his efforts and his eggs into one basket: New Hampshire–and he didn’t do it well or convincingly.  People here were still finding out who he was with two weeks to go until the Primary when Huntsman had spent more time here than any other candidate.  He ignored Iowa and didn’t have any substantive organization or grass roots in any other state.  He figured he could ride the wave of New Hampshire, but there was one key problem: he didn’t win.  In fact, he didn’t even come close.

At the end of the day, his primary failing (no pun intended) was that he didn’t have the kind of organization necessary to propel him to the nomination.  That’s why Jon Huntsman is a former candidate tonight.

The remaining five take the stage shortly in South Carolina to debate.  I’m sure that Mitt, Newt, Ron and The Ricks won’t miss him one bit.

#fitn

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