Another one bites the dust, as Jon Huntsman bows out.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Mr. Huntsman, who had hoped to use the South Carolina primary this week to revive his flagging candidacy, informed his advisers on Sunday that he was bowing to political reality and would back Mr. Romney, whom he accused a week ago of putting party ahead of country. 

Mr. Huntsman, who had struggled to live up to the early expectations of his candidacy, was to deliver a speech Monday morning in Myrtle Beach, where the five remaining major Republican candidates will gather hours later for a debate. His endorsement of Mr. Romney is indication of the party establishment getting behind Mr. Romney and trying to focus the party on defeating President Obama. 

“The governor and his family, at this point in the race, decided it was time for Republicans to rally around a candidate who could beat Barack Obama and turn around the economy,” Matt David, Mr. Huntsman’s campaign manager, said in an interview Sunday evening. “That candidate is Gov. Mitt Romney.”

I have been hearing a lot of grumbling about Huntman's decision to endorse Romney, but what choice did he really have?

After all Romney is the closest to Huntsman's moderate ideology, not to mention they are both Mormons. It was the LDS thing to do.

Besides who else was he going to endorse?

Gingrich?

Santorum?

Perry?

Not hardly.

Update: Interesting possibility to consider. Did Huntsman's abrupt decision to leave the race have anything to do with fear that he would place behind comedian Stephen Colbert in the South Carolina primary?

If true, that would be AWESOME!