In the end, nothing became Jon Huntsman's campaign for the presidency as much as his leaving it. His departing words were both wise and measured. He was by any standard, I think, the best Republican candidate for the job, and it is a sad sign of the times that his careful rhetoric was drowned out by the right-wing rants of the others appealing to the atavistic feelings of their core followers.

It would be both shortsighted and foolish, however, to rule Huntsman out for an important job in any future administration, either Democratic or Republican. He served as President Barack Obama's ambassador to China, for which his fellow Republicans criticized him severely, and as President George H.W. Bush's ambassador to Singapore.

The other candidate to withdraw on the eve of the South Carolina contest, was Texas Gov. Rick Perry. His attempts to convince the electorates in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina that he was the conservative candidate they were waiting for failed miserably. He simply is not up to the top job, and his debate performances convinced even the most desperate conservatives that he lacked the intellectual heft to handle the presidency. In fact, his debate performances and off-the-cuff remarks were so dismal that they should raise questions about how he ever became governor. He was not even in the same ballpark as Huntsman.

That leaves us with Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. They each have their devoted followers, but none commands an impressive lead. The Republican core still does not embrace Romney, believing he is not a genuine conservative. There is increasing evidence, however, that the core may be resigned to a Romney candidacy as their best chance of winning the presidency. That is the outcome that the Obama White House has been counting on since the beginning of the race, all these many, seemingly endless months ago.

The main problem for Romney seems to be his failure so far to release his tax returns and questions surrounding his overall wealth, said to be about $200 million. He was born into wealth and has made himself even wealthier. There should be no problem with this, and there has been no suggestion that he has done anything illegal. But his unscripted comments about his money strongly suggest he suffers from foot-in-mouth disease.

To tell hard-pressed Americans that $365,000 is not much money to make for a year's speaking fees is crassly insensitive, especially when most Americans will never, ever see that amount of annual income. It is worse when put against the millions he makes each year in investment income.

To add insult to injury, Romney was forced to admit this week that he pays income tax in the 15 percent range, far lower than the average American. And yet this is the man who accuses Obama of being an elitist? The gall is breathtaking. In the interest of full disclosure, however, it should be noted that Obama is far from being a poor man (his combined income with that of his wife, Michelle, was well more than $1 million in 2010, most of it from the sale of his books).

Gingrich could actually win in South Carolina. In a CNN-sponsored debate this week, his fiery denunciation of the media in general and debate moderator John King in particular for asking him about his second wife's comments about their personal life brought the audience to its feet. Gingrich's furious reply hit it out of the ballpark, and the momentum from that incident could win him the South Carolina primary.

But his foreign-policy ideas, along with those of Santorum and occasionally those of Romney, the front-runner, are sometimes dangerously stupid. All three are wild-eyed saber-rattlers when it comes to Iran, a dangerous thing to be when Iran could well become a nuclear-weapons power in the next year or so, and diplomacy ought to be as important a weapon for the U.S. as bombs. At least it gives us options. Even the Israelis don't go as far as this trio, and the Israelis have far more at risk than Americans. In fact, Israeli Premier Binyamin Netanyahu, whom no one ever accused of being a dove, said this past week that sanctions may be causing a change in Iran and that secret negotiations with the Iranian regime could bear fruit. Does that sound like Obama is throwing Israel under the bus?

Gingrich and Santorum simply are not credible as presidential candidates, despite their feverish supporters. The contest is still Romney's to lose.

Bill Stewart, a former Foreign Service officer and correspondent for Time magazine, lives in Santa Fe. He writes weekly on current affairs.