Sen. Jim DeMint, Rep. Charlie Bass and Rep. Steve King have yet to back a candidate. | AP Photos Early-staters in no hurry to endorse

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint embodies the feeling of many Republican lawmakers from early-primary states.

He’s looking at the GOP presidential field and thinking about sitting it out.



“It’s increasingly unlikely I’m going to endorse, but I want to … think it through,” he told POLITICO. “I’m coming to the conclusion I could be more helpful focused on the Senate Conservatives Fund and not getting over-involved in a presidential race.”



This year, the sidelines are packed with Republicans who are steering clear of the endorsement game even though their states are expected to play an outsized role in choosing the nominee. A look around the members of Congress from Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina shows an indecisive — or even indifferent — bunch of lawmakers who see an unsettled presidential field and are deciding they could spend their time better elsewhere.



The phenomenon is stretching to DeMint’s Palmetto State colleagues, like Rep. Tim Scott, also a tea party favorite, who has not yet been driven to endorse.



“There are some folks [who] need to spend more time in South Carolina,” Scott said, adding that “of course,” he’s referring to Mitt Romney. “He says he wants to come, but in the end, whether he comes to my town halls or not, he needs to be present in South Carolina a lot more than he is.”



It’s not just South Carolina. From New Hampshire Rep. Charlie Bass to veteran Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and his Hawkeye State colleague Rep. Steve King, bold-faced names in early voting states just aren’t interested — at this point or, in some cases, through the early contests — in putting their political capital on the line behind a candidate for president. This is a departure from previous election cycles, when many early-state lawmakers endorsed in the summer and early fall, before the early contests began.


The reasons are plentiful. The primary field is extraordinarily fluid and, frankly, unimpressive to many Republicans. Conservatives have not yet anointed a favored candidate, instead shuffling through a number of figures.



Texas Gov. Rick Perry was once seen as a savior, but his candidacy has floundered. Herman Cain is facing damaging sexual harassment allegations. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has fallen off the map. And Romney is still viewed skeptically by many elements of the Republican base.



“The candidate [who] wins is the candidate willing to be different from the other candidates, and I have not seen that differentiation on issues that I can support,” Bass said in an interview.



The lone exception to endorsement avoidance is Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, who has backed Perry. He’s the only lawmaker from Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina to endorse a candidate who is still in the race.



Another New Hampshire lawmaker, Rep. Frank Guinta, is “leaning toward … an endorsement” and will meet with Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman soon when the House is out of session.

For some, it makes sense to wait and see what happens before committing to a candidate. Lawmakers are largely unfamiliar with the candidates and not interested in getting involved in what’s becoming an increasingly contentious and unpredictable fight for the nomination.

And to others, there’s clear frustration with the field of candidates.



Bass, whose father and grandfather were elected officials, has endorsed a candidate in every president election since 1979 — but maybe not this time.



“It’s time for candidates to talk about themselves as a president, not as Republicans — not as part of a Republican group trying to be as close to one another as they can in order to win the nomination,” Bass added.



From policy to strategy, there is no shortage of complaints. Scott, the tea party favorite from South Carolina, has been hosting Republican candidates for town halls in the Palmetto State but feels some have been giving his state the short shrift.



“It is a possibility that I don’t endorse,” Scott said, though he added he might change his mind and back a candidate after the town hall meetings end.



Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s senior senator, said DeMint’s decision will be instructive on what he decides to do, and he also said it’s “very possible” he could sit out the race, after aggressively campaigning for his close friend, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), in 2008.



“I’ve had my time in the sun, had a chance to help [McCain] win the South Carolina primary,” Graham said. “That was a wonderful experience. Sort of been there, done that. I just don’t have the same connection.”



Congressional endorsements can lead to crucial fundraising support and generate positive press for candidates, especially if a lawmaker is influential with a critical voting bloc. And it could also boost the profile of lawmakers who spend time on the campaign trail and pay major dividends for them if their chosen candidate ends up winning the White House.

But most of the time, endorsements don’t matter much to the outcome of a race.



“I don’t think anybody cares who I think they should vote for,” said South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, who added that he’ll stay out of the race, as well.



Home-state politics also come into play.



King, the fierce conservative from Iowa, has a tough race against Christie Vilsack, the wife of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, in a newly redrawn district.



“I had one of those little thoughts that kind of zipped through my mind a couple of months ago: If I endorse somebody, and they immediately tank, that hurts me politically in my reelect race,” King said. “That is a factor that most anybody can look in from the outside and see.”



King said an endorsement would be construed as “de facto criticism of all the others, and that troubles me because I do like and respect them all.”



Iowa Rep. Tom Latham, a 17-year veteran of the House, is not expected to endorse, either.



Grassley, the senior senator from Iowa, has been a fixture in the state for the past three decades, but he said he’d sit out the fight for the Iowa caucuses “to let the process play out.”



Asked if he was having a hard time falling in love with any of the candidates, Grassley said: “I am in love with a lot of them. … I’m just for being married to one. It’s hard to make my mind up.”



Similarly, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, the freshman conservative from New Hampshire, said her wavering on whether to get into the race is not a knock on the field, saying she’s still evaluating the candidates.



“So it was really a reflection on I wanted to meet all the candidates and decide whether or not I would weigh in,” Ayotte said. “So I left that option open.”



It’s possible some early-state lawmakers will come off the sidelines. DeMint, who endorsed Romney in 2008, said the next few weeks will be critical as he continues to evaluate the field and participates in an upcoming debate in South Carolina.



But DeMint said he worries that jumping behind a candidate could “divide the support” on the right just as he’s trying to use his Senate Conservatives Fund political action committee to elect more conservative candidates to the Senate in 2012.



“A lot of times when I’ve gotten involved with Senate races, [it was] because there was a clear contrast between conservatives and a more establishment candidate,” he said. “I don’t see that’s as much the case.”