As for ripple impacts on the remaining 34 potential candidates, The Bench Jockeys are tweaking Gingrich, Huckabee and Daniels.  With Barbour out,  Huckabee and Gingrich remains the only “southerners” in the race.  (We know Newt was born in Pennsylvania, but he is a Georgia boy and we see him doing well from Louisiana to South Carolina.  And we also know that Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal are on our list and are in leadership positions in southern sates, but none of them qualify as “southerners.”)  Huckabee has a tough decision to make since a declaration of candidacy would result in the suspension of his Fox News deal, but Barbour’s withdraw helps Big Mike.  But it is Mitch Daniels who gets the biggest boost from the departure of former RNC Chair Barbour since the old school Barbour fundraising machine would find an ideologically compatible and more than willing war-chest in the Daniels camp. 

NOTE:  Look for Ron Paul to announce his interest in one last run for the nomination in the next 24 hours.

Click to our 2012 odds at  http://thebenchjockeys.com/the-bench-jockeys-set-odds-on-the-2012-presidential-hopefuls/

Barbour Griffith & Rogers advocated for Oxygenated Fuels Association, a fuel additives trade association which worked in opposition to the ethanol industry critical to Hawkeye voters.  In addition, Barbour’s firm represented the Mexican government on trade and immigration issues and helped a three Mississippi universities secure pork barrel federal funding.  Although all is fair in love, war and lobbying, as opponents unpeel this onion, Barbour will have some ‘splainin’ to do.