Steve Hebert for The New York Times Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, shown last month, announced on Monday that he would not run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi said Monday that he had decided against seeking the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, an announcement that instantly shook up the party’s field of candidates and set off a scramble among rivals to court donors who had been planning to support his candidacy.
“I will not be a candidate for president next year,” Mr. Barbour said in a statement. “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.”
For months, Mr. Barbour has been traveling to the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, testing his support among Republican activists. He was widely expected to enter the race this week, particularly among contributors and the party establishment, but he said that he was unsure about the long-term commitment.
“A candidate for president today is embracing a 10-year commitment to an all-consuming effort, to the virtual exclusion of all else,” Mr. Barbour said. “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.”
Mr. Barbour has been involved in national Republican politics since dropping out of college to work on Richard Nixon’s first presidential campaign in 1960. But as a prospective presidential candidate himself, Mr. Barbour faced a different Republican Party than the one whose ranks he ascended as a top operative and a national chairman. His uneasy relationship with the Tea Party movement, along with his history as a Washington lobbyist, would have been clear challenges for his candidacy.
In his statement on Monday, he apologized to supporters for leading them to believe that he would enter the race.
“I greatly appreciate each and every one of them and all their outstanding efforts,” Mr. Barbour said. “If I have disappointed any of them in this decision, I sincerely regret it.”
The decision by Mr. Barbour comes as the Republican presidential nominating contest is taking shape. The first debate is scheduled for next week in South Carolina, where Mr. Barbour visited twice this month, meeting with local activists at county Republican conventions.
Mr. Barbour’s announcement was sure to touch off a new round of speculation about the political future of Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, who is a close friend and is also considering entering the race. Mr. Daniels has said that he intends to make a decision next month, after the Indiana Legislature adjourns this week.
It remains an open question where Mr. Barbour’s supporters will go – or if he will try to direct them to one specific candidate – but his decision could help other contenders like Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, who is also trying to build support from governors across the country.
The news by Mr. Barbour, delivered in a five-paragraph statement on Monday afternoon, came as something of a surprise to the political establishment. Yet there were clues to those who had watched him closely in recent weeks. Last month, he said that he had lost 20 pounds and intended to lose 20 more by the end of April.
But nine days ago, after he finished speaking at a Republican county convention in Lexington, S.C., Mr. Barbour grabbed a doughnut before heading for the door. He had not been seen doing that – in public, at least – for months.