Posted on 01/07/2012 9:32:19 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Endorsements might not matter much in the grand scheme of things (how many of you change your minds based on an endorsement?), but, cumulatively, they do say something about a candidates ability to campaign effectively and about the kind of supporters a candidate attracts.
Then, too, endorsements sometimes have the opposite of their intended effect. Case in point: Some Republican voters have said they would reconsider a candidate if Donald Trump endorsed that candidate. For that matter, does anybody actually like Mitt Romney better because John McCain endorsed him?
In advance of New Hampshire, both Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman have picked up relatively notable endorsements. What does each say about Santorums and Huntsmans chances in the Granite State?
First, Santorums new supporter:
A source close to the presidential campaign of Rick Santorum tells ABC News that the former Pennsylvania senator will pick up the endorsement of Christian conservative activist Gary Bauer on Sunday. Bauer ran for president himself in 2000, and is part of the group of conservative leaders trying to figure out around which candidate the movement should coalesce so as to stop Mitt Romney from grabbing plurality wins all the way to the nomination, with conservatives like Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Ron Paul splitting the non-Romney vote.
Given Gary Bauers blatant social conservative credentials, this likely doesnt help Santorum much in moderate New Hampshire but it is a nice little sign that Santorums perceived viability as a challenger to Romney continues to mount. The newest objections to Santorum center around his supposed religiously-motivated big-government conservatism and this endorsement might just give added credence to those objections, but, at the same time, Santorums social conservatism wont hurt him in South Carolina, where, actually, Mitt Romney is now trying to make the case that he is also a faith-based candidate. Overall, the endorsement just adds to the image Santorum has been building: Hes a holistic candidate a full-spectrum conservative who actually stands a chance to beat Romney, not necessarily by rising dramatically in New Hampshire, but by competing everywhere and doing exceptionally well in states like Iowa and South Carolina.
Next, Huntsmans new backer:
GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman will pick up his first congressional endorsement in the final days before the New Hampshire primary, CNN has learned.
Rep. Richard Hanna, a first-term Republican congressman from New York, has decided to back Huntsman, two sources said Saturday.
The aide said Hanna came to support Huntsman in part because of the candidates push for better education in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. However, the two Republicans also share some similarities in their independent approach to party orthodoxy. In Congress, Hanna is a member of both the conservative Republican Study Committee and a caucus that promotes equality for gays and lesbians.
This says nothing about Huntsman so much as it says that he hasnt yet had support from a single member of Congress. Perhaps it will make some kind of difference among Hannas constituents or in New Hampshire, the one state in which Huntsman is expected to do well, but, overall, its just another indication of Huntsmans barely-above-an-asterisk national polling throughout the campaigns.
Love Santorum. Huntsman scared the piss out of me when he starting speaking Chinese. It was awful.
Gary Bauer: “The plane! The plane!”
Bauer = kiss of Death.
Just say no, Rick : )
He’d better watch his step so he won’t fall off another stage!
the flap jack king.. LOL
That must have hurt. Talk about humiliating!
Bisquick!
2 weeks from now when Rick "I'm REALLY boring, and not terribly bright or electable" Santorum is in single digits again and drops out, Bauer should do a head first stage dive into a crowd of Tea Partiers, and see who catches him.
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