“which came after he finished fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire”
Here we go again, not that it matters all that much but I would like to set the record straight. Newt finished 4th in New Hampshire, Santorum 5th.
Huntsman pulled a considerable amount of the NH vote. IMO he was a “straw” candidate. He is related to Willard and the Huntsman family fortune is intertwined with Bain.
Ask yourself, what place did Huntsman finish? Why didn’t he continue? Who would have gotten his vote if he wasn’t running? His delegates will back Romney at convention, but they were obtained by deceiving the voters of NH.