GOP Insiders Predict Next 3 Candidates to Exit Race

Rick Perry and Scott Walker have already dropped out of the GOP presidential race; who will be the next to go? Politico takes a "bipartisan survey of the top activists, operatives, and strategists in Iowa and New Hampshire" each week, and the latest thinking among Republicans is that Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, and Rand Paul will drop out next. In Iowa, 25% of Republicans predicted Jindal ("He's become desperate," says one, "and has nothing going on here in Iowa") while in New Hampshire, 27% predicted Pataki ("The Spice Girls were big in the 1990s, too, but no one wants to see them on a reunion tour"). In both states, Paul "won" the second-place slot of who is most likely to drop out.

So where would Democrats place their bets? 40% of Iowa Democrats predicted Paul will be next to drop out and 34% of New Hampshire Democrats predicted Jindal. Earlier this week, CNN was also predicting the next drop-outs, using the Political Prediction Market, a "game that factors polls and other elements and invites users to predict where the election will go." The most recent one found that Lindsey Graham is the most likely to drop out, with 85% odds, followed by Rick Santorum with 83% and Jindal with 80%. (More Bobby Jindal stories.)