With the 2012 year officially underway, the presidential election is coming up even sooner than we might think — as in just 10 months away.

What’s not at all surprising at this point is the sorry state of the Republican primary, and the lack of a clear-cut winner to challenge President Barack Obama this November.

This past week, another candidate fell victim to the general loss of support for any one figure, and Jon Huntsman, my personal choice for the nominee, stepped down and endorsed Mitt Romney.

This leaves the field with one less respectable, though perhaps not electable, candidate.

If you’ve read any of my previous columns from this year, my support for Jon Huntsman should be fairly obvious.

He’s moderate enough to get Independent, and maybe even Democrat, votes, but has strong conservative values that accurately reflect the general attitude of the Republican Party.

Despite my best efforts to rally the troops around Huntsman, he suffered from the same problem that everyone said he would — a complete lack of public awareness about his candidacy contributed to his overall failure.

Now that Huntsman has dropped out, the remaining field stands with just five candidates — Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, none of which are exactly setting the world on fire. This is actually kind of upsetting, considering that this election is the first presidential election that I get to participate in — not that my vote would count in my home state of California anyway.

Still, this is the first opportunity that I have to make a difference on the political stage and there isn’t a candidate that I can fully support left standing.

Which leads me back to the eternal Republican option, none other than current front-runner Romney.

Despite his many presidential attempts, Romney just can’t get above 25 percent support, no matter what he does.

For whatever reason, this year might finally be his year — even if that reason is because there literally isn’t a better option. Sadly, it doesn’t look like there is, especially considering that my personal favorite, Paul Ryan, is refusing to run.

Still, I don’t think that there is anyone with a better chance in the general election than Romney.

He’s certainly polished, but that also draws from the fact that this is not his first presidential campaign.

He has solid policies — but only when he can commit to one idea at a time.

He’s an incredibly charismatic speaker, but can come across as extremely fake.

Basically, he’s the best we’ve got, but he’s far from actually being the best.

It’s hard to say if this is the fault of Romney or the Republican Party in general.

Every election cycle, the most extreme candidates get all the press and make all the headlines, but the most moderate candidate is the one elected.

That’s the way it has always been, and that’s the way it will always be.

Despite this inevitability, the current cycle has seen the more moderate candidates get the most scrutiny, forcing them to drop out instead of staying the course.

In fact, this election cycle has been incredibly unique in that there have been so many characters, to say the least.

Those who have already left the race —  Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty and now Huntsman — all had their moments of glory, but those moments were incredibly shortlived, to the point that it’s often hard to remember that these candidates were ever actually considered contenders.

There are only 10 months until the election, and the conventions are coming up even sooner than that, but the race still doesn’t look like it’s going to be decided anytime soon.

My hope for the next 10 months is that someone finally steps out, and stays in the forefront, to actually become a leader in the election.

I’m not saying that it’s going to be Romney, since my guesses always seem to be off, but there doesn’t seem to be a better option right now.

It’s too late in the election cycle to add yet another contender, especially since those who were in the race have almost all dropped, but it’s time to now pick between the best of the rest — if the term best can actually be applied to the remaining candidates.

Of the five men still fighting for the nomination, each one, excluding Romney, still does not seem to have a great shot at the nomination, which is a very troubling thought.

What I would like to see in the months leading up to the convention is a sort of consensus within the Republican Party — find the most electable candidate, and focus the negative attacks on President Obama, not each other.

It’s worth a shot to try and take the White House back.