ABC News' Michael Falcone, Jen Wlach, & Sara Just report:
After a roller-coaster flirtation with a presidential bid, Donald Trump bowed out of the 2012 contest in true Trump fashion, sayng that while he would not be a candidate this year, if he had run, he would have been able to win the primary and the general election.
"I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election," Trump said in a statement. "I have spent the past several months unofficially campaigning and recognize that running for public office cannot be done half heartedly. Ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector."
Trump, who had contemplated running for president in years past, seemed poised take the plunge this year. He even had a tentative date set for a campaign announcement: May 25 in the atrium of Trump Tower in new York City.
According to Trump aides, the real estate mogual and reality telvision mogul had even settled on campaign consultants to help streer his potential presidential bid. Trump had already made two visits to New Hampshire within the last month and had a series of events planned in that state and in Iowa over the next few weeks.
In the end, however, his decision almost certainly had more to do with his lucrative NBC television contract for his "Apprentice" franchise than anything else. Trump was running out of time to decide whether he would sign on for another season of the "Celebrity Apprentice." Sources close to Trump said negotiations ran to the 11th hours with reports of Trump on hourly calls with NBC executives throughout the weekend who were trying to convince Trump to continue to helm the show.
Some news reports cited NBC offering Trump as much as $60 million to renew his contract, and sources said that NBC had told Trump that the network had lined up three years worth of sponsors for "The Apprentice" -- but only with Trump's participation in the show.
Over the last few months Trump enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of many national presidential poll thanks, in part, to name recognition that far exceeded that of any other candidates and potential candidates vying for the GOP nomination.
In the most recent ABC News-Washington Post poll taken last month, Trump was running in second place, behind only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. And a Gallup survey of GOP voters from April 25 through May 8, found Trump supported by 16 percent of Republicans; tied for first place with former Arkansas Mike Huckabee, who hannounced over the weekend that will not enter the race. (The same survey found that the number of Republicans who dislike Trump stood at 44 percent).
But for a while, Trump seemed to be riding high.
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