Iowa Rep. Steve King, one of his state’s most influential conservative figures, remains firm that he has not made an endorsement decision and he might not single out a candidate with the caucuses looming in the Hawkeye State on Tuesday.
King, who told
Newsmax last week that, if he were choosing between former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, he would pick Gingrich as the better candidate. He described Gingrich as a “brilliant man, who generates all kinds of ideas.”
But the congressman told The Hill Saturday night, and repeated his stance on CNN’s “State of the Union” today, that he hasn’t settled on a candidate. "I have made no decision. It has to be a decision made out of conviction. I'd never have thought I'd be at this point without a conviction, but I am," he told The Hill.
Among his reasons for not endorsing, he said, are that "several of these candidates are friends of mine” and he hasn’t sensed a “clarity” in the field.
King marveled at the fluidity of the Republican presidential contests, with leaders rising and falling over several months.
"It's like no other race I've ever seen," he said. "It has been a constant contest to be king of the hill,” King told The Hill, adding, "Mitt Romney has been around the summit but he has never really claimed the summit."
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