Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
In the early days of the 2012 presidential campaign – when biography substitutes for beliefs and positions stand in for performance – former Utah Governor (and current Obama Administration Ambassador to China) Jon Huntsman, Jr. is offering a package that may sound familiar. Hunstman is an enriched and accomplished businessman, a photogenic and articulate executive, and a man grounded in his Mormon faith. Sound like any other recent presidential candidates you know?
Huntsman has his differences from Mitt Romney, however. While Romney’s capacity for reinvention (he is nearly to the point of denying that he’s aware there’s a state called Massachusetts) is seemingly endless, there’s at least a hint of deference to it. Romney desperately wants to court the conservative base of the Republican Party, even if it requires intellectual Pilates on his part. He comes ostensibly as a convert. Huntsman, on the other hand, comes to do the converting.
Leaving aside his stint in the Obama Administration, there’s plenty about Huntsman to make conservatives nervous. He recently told Politico that for the GOP to be viable in the future it has to move to the center on issues like immigration, gay rights, and the environment (dispensation on one of these issues would be easier if it seemed to fit into a coherent view of government – as it is, this reads like a shameless electoral play). Then there was his warm welcome to the Republican leadership in Congress in 2009, when he told the Washington Times, “I don’t even know the congressional leadership. I have not met them. I don’t listen or read whatever it is they say because it is inconsequential — completely.”
If he’s content to write off the party’s philosophical base, Huntsman shouldn’t plan on taking much comfort in identity politics either. A Deseret News/KSL Poll out in Utah this week shows the favorite son has become the black sheep – in the Beehive State, Huntsman trails Romney by 30 points -- 56 percent to 26 percent -- in a potential presidential race. There’s a lesson there that Huntsman might want to take to heart before he begins a run in earnest: Flattery may not get you far. But it sure beats contempt.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
Utah's the Beehive state?
Oct '10
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
thanks for informing us about Huntsman, Troy.
May '10
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
I'm very eager to see Huntsman's plan for winning the Republican nomination without any primary votes.
Oct '10
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
LMAO.
Aug '10
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
Ok, one down and twenty-five to go. There are only two candidates on the democrat side, but they're both busily sleeping on the porch as the world changes.
May '10
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
Does Huntsman have it in for Romney?...because it seems like the only consequential effect of a Huntsman run would be to steal some votes from Mitt, and he must know this.
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
It is remarkable how many candidates there are this time around who do not stand a chance. It is as if they all look in the mirror and say, "Why not me?"
May '10
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
The alpha and omega of Huntsman flaws: he opined that the Stimulus wasn't big enough. Candidacy over. There is no Krugman wing of the Republican party.
However, it might be useful to have him on the stage, as a high-profile way to dish inside dirt.
Jun '10
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
Let's see, #1, he works for Obama. #2...I don't need no number 2.
Jan '11
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
That's because Brigham Young saw them as an industrious people. What was little reported was the joy amongst the conservative crowd here when Huntsman was named as ambassador to China. It's the most popular move Obama has done.
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
"Flattery may not get you far. But it sure beats contempt."
Beautiful.
Note, too, that whereas Romney's a self-made man (more or less; he grew up wealthy, but he made himself rich) Huntsman's vast wealth comes from his daddy.
Sep '10
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
Maxim for the ages:
"When White House contains empty suit, expect line up of hollow men."
Jun '10
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
As a Utah Mormon, I can tell you that Huntsman is not a conservative--Mitt would make a far better president (though Romneycare will continue to be a huge albatross). As I recall, Huntsman has drunk the koolaid on global warming. Further, as I understand it, he never really ran his father's company: that was left to a brother.
While I still harbor some allegiance for Romney (I supported him in 08), I believe there are other candidates out there (Pawlenty, Daniels, maybe some others) who would be excellent candidates and great as president (and, most importantly, could beat Obama).
Huntsman's chances have got to be negligible at best.
Edited on Feb 16, 2011 at 2:48pmJul '10
Re: Why the Huntsman Campaign (If Such There Must Be) is Doomed
Do we really think it's fair to characterize Huntsman as presenting himself as "grounded in his Mormon faith?" It seems to me that he's succeeded in neutralizing his faith in a way that Romney has not yet accomplished. And I know and love more than a few Mormons but to get one elected president will take some serious neutralizing, let's not kid around. Huntsman (to me) seems to be presenting himself as the opposite of Romney in many ways and he's far, far more likely to get my vote than a man who--while self-made--has switched sides on nearly every issue of consequence every few years for the last two decades. It made John Kerry look craven, just as it makes Mitt look craven. I'm not voting for anyone who picks their beliefs based on which office it's likely to get them elected to, but someone who is actually willing to say, "This is what I believe and if I lose the election for it, I lose." Huntsman held some unpopular views in Utah that didn't prevent him from winning and might actually help him beat the President...