Barbour está fuera

Barbour no se presenta. Algunos lo esperaban después de que Nick Ayers firmara con Pawlenty, pero no deja de sorprender visto el alto nivel de actividad que ha mantenido fuera de Mississippi en los últimos dos meses.

Tres posibles teorías para explicar esta extraña decisión:

1) Apoyará a Pawlenty. Punto.

2) Ha estado contratando y organizando personal en nombre de una posible candidatura de Mitch Daniels para que el Gobernador de Indiana no tuviera que hacer nada en esta primera fase.

3) Huckabee le ha confesado que se presenta, y Barbour ha comprendido que con el ex Gobernador de Arkansas en competición no hay espacio para otro candidato sureño.

Declaración de la oficina del Gobernador Barbour:

"I will not be a candidate for president next year. This has been a difficult, personal decision, and I am very grateful to my family for their total support of my going forward, had that been what I decided.

"Hundreds of people have encouraged me to run and offered both to give and raise money for a presidential campaign. Many volunteers have organized events in support of my pursuing the race. Some have dedicated virtually full time to setting up preliminary organizations in critical, early states and to helping plan what has been several months of intensive activity.

"I greatly appreciate each and every one of them and all their outstanding efforts. If I have disappointed any of them in this decision, I sincerely regret it.

"A candidate for president today is embracing a ten-year commitment to an all-consuming effort, to the virtual exclusion of all else. His (or her) supporters expect and deserve no less than absolute fire in the belly from their candidate. I cannot offer that with certainty, and total certainty is required.

"This decision means I will continue my job as Governor of Mississippi, my role in the Republican Governors Association and my efforts to elect a new Republican president in 2012, as the stakes for the nation require that effort to be successful."