According to the Washington Post, Former Texas Governor Rick Perry will suspend his bid for the Presidency. This report comes days after former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman suspended his campaign.

The Republican field is starting to take shape, Ray T. Dutey, retired county auditor and chairman of the Lawrence County Republican Executive Committee, said.

“Regardless of the primary winner, Ohio will be the crucial state in the general election,” Dutey said. “Both parties will spend a lot of time and money in Ohio.”

While Perry is expected to endorse former house speaker Newt Gingrich, Huntsman gave his endorsement to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romeny.

Huntsman’s endorsement of Romney came as a bit of a surprise, Dutey said.

On Nov. 6, 2011, Huntsman gave an interview on Meet the Press. Huntsman said Mitt Romeny is unelectable against President Barrack Obama.

“I think when you’re on too many sides of the issues of the day, when you don’t have that core, when there’s that element of trust out there, I think that becomes a problem. And I think it makes you unelectable against Barack Obama,” Huntsman said of Romney.

In politics, one party often roughs each other up in the primaries. Hilary Clinton and Obama went head to head in 2008 before Obama finally won and then Clinton finally supported him, Dutey said.

“Huntsman got in New Hampshire and ran third,” Dutey said. “He thought he could win that race. He wasn’t getting up to five percent, he saw he didn’t have a chance. Once he didn’t have a chance, he supported Romney. That’s politics.”

On the eve of the South Carolina primary, Gingrich is surging in the polls.

“Gingrich is having a great week,” Dutey said. “He gained 10 percentage point after Monday’s debate and now with Perry’s endorsement, he has a real shot in South Carolina.”

Gingrich was winning Iowa in December but fell to fourth on election night. He did not place in the top three in New Hampshire. South Carolina might be a different story, according to a recent CNN poll. Gingrich is second with 23 percent of the vote, behind Romney’s 33 percent.

“He (Gingrich) is a smart man,” Dutey said. “He was leading in Iowa and then those super pacs started working on him and he hasn’t been able to recover. Some of his baggage is also hurting him. His past problems with marriage. He said he would not run a negative campaign. In Iowa, he stayed positive but when it came to New Hampshire he went negative and he is real negative in South Carolina.”

Romney and Gingrich are the two front-runners and, according to Dutey, both have the knowledge and ability to compete against Obama in November.

“I’d like to see Romney. He is the best man for the country right now,” Dutey said. “His position on the economy and military are both strong. We need a person of his caliber.”

Dutey admitted that he thought about the general election and who had the best chance to defeat Obama before he decided who to support.