Fresh off a GOP debate last night where he was largely relegated to a sidelight to current front-runner Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is announcing this morning that they have secured the endorsement of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
As endorsements go, this is a fairly big one for the Romney camp–Ms. Haley is a favorite of the Tea Party crowd that has largely shunned the former Massachusetts governor. Mr. Romney is currently trailing badly in South Carolina, which votes after Iowa and New Hampshire, but the backing of an anti-establishment figure like Ms. Haley can help in states where he still is within striking distance like Nevada and Florida.
The endorsement also shows just how loose the phrase “establishment Republicans” is when it comes to Mr. Romney. He has been endorsed not just by the party’s leading thinkers, but seemingly nearly everyone who has ever held or run for political office anywhere in the country has lined up behind his campaign, as the string of press releases which flood reporters inboxes each day attests. But still, he trails Mr. Gingrich. Read More
