The Sydney Morning Herald
Republican spotlight on ex-governors as Trump bows out
Simon Mann
AND then there were two … with a few others lurking.
With the property tycoon Donald Trump dropping out of the race to be the Republican Party's challenger to Barack Obama in 2012, two committed contenders remain with at least six others considering a run, including four former state governors. But in the most open Republican contest for decades, opinion polls suggest the eventual winner is among those yet to nominate.
Mr Trump's decision to end his campaign was hardly unexpected, though it failed to put an end to his bravado: preferring his business career over one of public service, he insisted that he could have won the nomination - and the presidency.
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But ''after considerable deliberation and reflection'', the wildly coiffed boss who relishes delivering his stock line ''You're fired'' in TV's top-rating Celebrity Apprentice, pulled the pin on what pundits and political rivals alike had considered merely a publicity stunt.
''Ultimately,'' he said, ''business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.''
''The Donald'' was never a serious contender, nor a popular one.
He miscued badly when he resurrected the so-called ''birther'' issue of conspiracy theorists who claim Mr Obama was not born in the US and is therefore ineligible to be president. He was ridiculed when Hawaiian health department officials released Mr Obama's long-form birth certificate at the request of the President, who delivered his coup de grace in mocking tones days later at the White House correspondents' dinner, which Mr Trump attended.
The billionaire's exit follows the weekend decision of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee to park his presidential ambition. Though his heart was telling him not to run, not so his ego: Mr Huckabee, too, proudly maintained that he could have beaten the President.
That task, however, is expected ultimately to fall to one of four former governors who are yet to nominate: Mitt Romney (ex-Massachusetts), Tim Pawlenty (Minnesota), Mitch Daniels (Indiana) and the former US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman (Utah).
Mr Huntsman's low profile suggests his candidacy would simply be a forerunner to something serious in 2016.
Then there's Sarah Palin, hardly seen since she was flayed in the acrimonious debate over political rhetoric that flared following the shooting in Tucson in January of local Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Like Mr Trump, the former vice-presidential candidate looks increasingly likely to stick to her lucrative media and public speaking career, paving the way for Tea Party chum Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman, to chance her arm. Many Republicans, however, cling to the prospect of a Palin run.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/republican-spotlight-on-exgovernors-as-trump-bows-out-20110517-1erbq.html
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