What "niche" does Fred fill that other, more exciting candidates do not? For a long time, we heard that Fred was a staunch social conservative, yet he failed to entice those voters. It was almost as if he pushed them to the side. Huckabee picked them up.
For economics, and organization, rightly or wrongly Mitt and Rudy have those voters. For national security, it is Rudy or John McCain.
Not one candidate shines in all areas, yet they each are much stronger in a single class than Fred is. His position papers are excellent, but in order to win over voters it isn't necessarily the message, but the presentation of that record that counts.
Fred comes off as a grumpy, old candidate. He rarely smiles, and people want optimism. Those two qualities are what keeps Huck and Mitt in the race.
Fred could suprise in the remaining states, and this election is way to much up for grabs among 5 very close competitors, but if Fred can't sweep the south (Huck will be very close), where can he win?
Rudy has his super Tuesday path to victory.
McCain and Mitt have the early state momentum path to victory (which IMO only one will come out of), and Huck has his Iowa momentum path to victory. What is Freds path to victory?
If that's the tack you're going to take, then I'll counter with:
Romney comes off as a synthetic, narcissistic candidate.