As the Iowa caucuses draw nearer, the Republican presidential candidate race seems to be more wide open then ever. In recent months a number of candidates experienced surges and declines in polls of primary voters nationwide.
However, Republican National Party Chairman Reince Priebus believes one of the candidates will emerge “pretty quickly.” Although he did not name his pick to win the race, Mr. Priebus clarified his views on the race Tuesday.
“It’s a horse race. There’s no doubt about it. Let’s put this in perspective. We haven’t had one single primary yet,” Mr. Priebus said in an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Tuesday.
“We’ll get there. And we will have a nominee pretty quickly,” Mr. Priebus added.
Last week two possible third-party candidates emerged, as New York City real estate mogul Donald Trump changed his voter reigistration to independent, and former Republican candidate Gary Johnson announced that he would seek the Libertarian Party nomination in 2012.
Mr. Trump has consistently said that he will only seek a third party run if the GOP ends up nominating a candidate that is not to his liking. Mr. Johnson has been unsatisfied with his ability to mount support and his lack of invitations to the Republican presidential candidate debates in recent months, he only attended two of them.
Speaking Sunday, however, Mr. Priebus said he is not worried about third-party candidates taking votes away from the eventual Republican nominee.
“Quite frankly, I think the third-party candidates will take more votes away from Barack Obama than from our candidates,” the RNC chairman stated.
An American Research Group poll of likely Iowa caucus goers released over the weekend showed the race in Iowa is closer than ever. Texas congressman Ron Paul finished in first place with 21 percent of the votes, while former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich followed closely.
Mr. Romney holds the lead in New Hampshire, where former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is also surging in support. Mr. Gingrich holds a substantial lead in polls of recent South Carolina voters, so if the polls are any indication of how the first three primary elections will go, a clear path to the nomination likely will not evolve for any of the candidates until February.
Mr. Priebus accredited the closeness of the race to “excitement” among Republicans.
“The fact of the matter is that people around the country and especially in Iowa wants to make sure their decision is sound. I think it’s really important to this country that we can put up a candidate that is smart, and articulate, that can beat the president,” Mr. Priebus said Tuesday.
“What you’re seeing is a lot of a lot of excitement on the Republican side of the aisle,” Mr. Priebus added.
