Jon Huntsman has officially announced his withdrawal from the Republican presidential race, calling on his rivals to stop their negative attacks and unite behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
“I believe it is now time for our party to unite around the candidate best equipped to defeat Barack Obama,” he told supporters. “Despite our differences and the space between us on some of the issues, I believe that candidate is Gov. Mitt Romney.”
Romney is presently ahead in the polls for the South Carolina primary, Sat. Jan. 21, but has yet to unite the Republican Party behind him. For Romney to gain a clear victory in the strongly conservative South Carolina remains uncertain, and more so by negative attacks and advertising from his rivals.
Flanked by his wife and daughters, Huntsman described the 2012 GOP presidential candidate campaign as “toxic” saying “it does not help our cause.”
“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,” he said.
He called on candidates to stop attacking each other and focus on the task at hand.
“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.”
Huntsman had focused much of his campaign on the New Hampshire primary but his results had been disappointing, gaining only 17 percent of the Republican vote and coming in third behind Romney and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. Exit polling by CNN during the New Hampshire primary indicated that 51 percent of Huntsman voters thought President Obama was doing a good job, suggesting that his more moderate views on issues like climate change, withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan, and civil unions for same-sex couples did not have strong Republican appeal.
Huntsman was polling at 4 percent in South Carolina before his departure, according to a CNN telephone poll of over 1,000 people taken Jan. 12–14 and released Friday.
His departure and endorsement are not expected to deliver a huge gain in the polls, for Romney who is at 34 percent in the same poll, well ahead of nearest contender, House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 18 percent and Ron Paul tying with former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania at 15 percent.
However, Huntsman, like Romney, drew on more moderate Republican voters and any additional support could make a difference for Romney, particularly if South Carolina trends in a similar direction to Iowa.
Romney took the lead over Santorum in the Iowa caucuses in the last hour of counting, winning by eight votes only.
Support for Romney
Huntsman said he would support Romney in his presidential bid, a turn-around from New Hampshire last week where he accused Romney, the founder and former CEO of successful financial services company Bain Capital, of being “detached from the problems people face today” and branded him as “unelectable.”
The turnaround is hardly unexpected however with Romney doing much the same in the 2008 election. Having fought a bitter Republican presidential candidate campaign against rival Sen. John McCain, Romney realized he could not compete and declared support for McCain’s presidential bid.
In his departing speech, Huntsman declared Romney “the candidate who is best-equipped to defeat the president and return conservative leadership to the White House.”
Turning his attention to the general election, which he described as the “most important election of our lifetime,” Huntsman also accused President Obama of contributing to division in the nation.
“Three years ago the president promised to unite the American people,” he said. “Yet his desire to engage in class warfare for political gain has left us more divided than ever.”
Candidacy a Long Shot
Jon Huntsman, 51, grew up in Palo Alto Calif., the son of a billionaire industrialist who, according to The Atlantic, invented the clamshell Styrofoam box used for the McDonald’s Big Mac.
As a 19-year-old, Huntsman Jr. moved to Taiwan for two years, learning Mandarin and Taiwanese Hokkein, according to his official biography available on his website. He worked as a White House assistant in the Reagan administration and was later appointed U.S. ambassador to Singapore, becoming the youngest head of an American diplomatic mission in a century.
He later became U.S. trade ambassador under President George W. Bush and, in 2009, was appointed ambassador to China by President Obama, a position that was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Huntsman spoke of his experience in China saying it illustrated the important role America played on the world stage.
“I saw it in China 10,000 miles away, meeting with dissidents who had been tortured and beaten, but who drew strength from our nation’s values—our openness, our freedoms, our commitment to human rights.”
Huntsman and his wife, Mary Kaye have seven children, including two adopted girls from China and India.
He told his supporters that he had entered the presidential candidacy on a “the longest of shots” staking his candidacy on “the country first” and to that end he remained committed.
“I will never stop fighting for America, and I will continue to put her welfare first, ahead of any partisan or special interest,” he said in a statement on his website.
