Haley Barbour drops out of presidency race before it even begins
Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, has laid the foundations for a run at the White House, putting together a campaign team and even losing weight, has abandoned his plans after his wife opposed the move.
Mr Barbour with his wife Marsha who persuaded him not to run Photo: AP
By Toby Harnden, Washington 6:13PM BST 26 Apr 2011
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Mr Barbour, a self-confessed "fat redneck", was widely expected to run for the Republican nomination to challenge Barack Obama next year, assembling a team of advisers and establishing a powerful fund-raising network.
The 63-year-old appeared noticeably slimmer, after once saying that a shrinking waistline would be proof positive that his White House ambitions were serious.
Senior Republicans expected him to be a top tier contender, though they acknowledged that his background as a Washington lobbyist, his good old boy Southern persona and impolitic remarks about race presented problems.
On Monday night, however, Mr Barbour dashed expectations when he announced he would not be a candidate next year.
He did not have the sufficient drive, he suggested, needed to embrace a "10-year commitment to an all-consuming effort, to the virtual exclusion of all else".
The wording and mention of 10 years hinted at what party insiders believe was the real reason why he abandoned his presidential ambitions.
In a recent television interview, his wife Marsha made clear that she was adamantly opposed to Mr Barbour entering the White house fray.
"It horrifies me," she said, highlighting the "huge sacrifice" it would mean for her family.
"You would commit to 10 years, which would be two years of campaigning, then you run to win, so it would be four years. Then you would want to run again, so it's 10 years and it's the last part of our productive lives."
Back in 1996, just as Mr Barbour was preparing to step down as Republican National Committee chairman, effectively the party's head, Mrs Barbour said: "The last four years have been the hardest thing we've ever done.
"I haven't really been that much of a part of it. He's been so busy and so consumed. He hasn't been home for an anniversary in a long time, or a birthday."
She added: "The next 11 years will be my turn."
Mr Barbour's exit from the 2012 stakes came as Representative Ron Paul, the libertarian folk hero who drew a huge internet following in 2008 and raised massive amounts of money, threw his hat into the ring.
Few, however, regard the anti-war Mr Paul, 75, as having a realistic chance of winning the nomination. Party operatives view Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Tim Pawlenty, all former governors, as the front runners in a race that has been slow to begin in earnest.
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