Huntsman issues statement (video)

Jon Huntsman ended his race for the Republican nomination with this statement today:

Huntsman quits the race

Jon Huntsman in 2010. Photo credits: wikimedia

Bilingual Jon Huntsman – despite our ignorant media’s scorn of his mastery of mandarin – stood head and shoulders above the other candidates in the Republican primary.

With his global vision, Huntsman was the GOP’s best choice to run against Obama in the general election. But word has it this morning that the civil, “country first” Huntsman is quitting the race and endorsing Romney.

From Zeleny and Rutenberg at the Caucus (NY Times):

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Jon M. Huntsman Jr. will announce Monday that he is ending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination and endorsing Mitt Romney, narrowing the field and erasing a challenge to Mr. Romney from the moderate wing of his party.

Mr. Huntsman, who had hoped to use the South Carolina primary this week to revive his flagging candidacy, informed his advisers on Sunday that he was bowing to political reality and would back Mr. Romney, whom he accused a week ago of putting party ahead of country.

Mr. Huntsman, who had struggled to live up to the early expectations of his candidacy, was to deliver a speech Monday morning in Myrtle Beach, where the five remaining major Republican candidates will gather hours later for a debate. His endorsement of Mr. Romney is indication of the party establishment getting behind Mr. Romney and trying to focus the party on defeating President Obama.

Interestingly, Zeleny and Rutenberg conclude their post:

But Mr. Obama’s top advisers seemed to see the danger in Mr. Huntsman’s candidacy, signaling in 2009 that they thought he might be a strong contender.

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Huntsman hits his stride in NH

Photo courtesy of Real Clear Politics.

Just hours ago, in my two previous posts, I was lamenting our media’s ignorance in essentially excluding Jon Huntsman in its coverage of the Republican primary. I found it necessary to point out that Huntsman was obviously the best qualified of the Republican candidates to assume the presidency.

As the polls opened in NH this morning, however, the media’s tune had changed, and a potential Huntsman surge is adding excitement in a race hitherto assumed to be all Romney, all the way.

Richard Benedetto at Real Clear Politics is measured in his expectations of where Huntsman will finish in NH, but he summarizes well Huntsman’s newly energized campaign:

KEENE, N.H. -- If today's New Hampshire Republican presidential primary produces a surprise, it could be Jon Huntsman.

The photogenic former two-term governor of Utah and ambassador to China in the Obama administration has a long-shot chance at finishing third behind Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.

That would be a shock. Huntsman has been campaigning in obscurity for the past six months, choosing to make a do-or-die stand in New Hampshire, but gaining little steam.

However, as the pre-voting days in this no-snow winter capital dwindle to the end, the low-key Huntsman seems to be hitting his stride. Although he continues to bill himself as an “underdog,” his crowds are bigger, his smile is wider, his voice is stronger and his step has an extra spring.

“New Hampshire loves an underdog!” he shouted to a cheering crowd of about 500 Sunday night at Keene State College.

Buoyed by the cheers, he still resisted the siren song of the grandiose prediction. That would be uncharacteristic of a man who has built his reputation on modesty. “We’re going to do well here” was as far as he would go.

His wife, Mary Kaye, who has been campaigning at her husband’s side and making speeches for him for months, was a little more optimistic, though not too much. “Every day the energy gets stronger and stronger. We’re going up, not down,” she declared in the tradition of Huntsman restraint.

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Our ignorant media disses Jon Huntsman for his ability to speak Mandarin

Jon Huntsman in 2010. Photo courtesy of wikipedia.

It was to be expected that media coverage of last night’s Republican debate would include dissing Jon Huntsman for his ability to speak Mandarin. But it figures. Too often pundits and commentators in both the old and new media appear to have mastered the technical skills of journalism, but are so ignorant in other areas as to fail to grasp what an asset Huntsman’s language skills might be for a U.S. president in today’s climate in which China is emerging as a world superpower.

Incidentally, how often do we find a U.S. ambassador who has actually taken the trouble to learn the language of the country where he or she serves?

Up to now, the media has virtually ignored Huntsman who is obviously the best qualified Republican candidate to compete with Obama in the 2012 general election. With his extensive background and “my country first” attitude, Huntsman could serve our nation well as president.

The Atlantic at least gives Huntsman some credit for his performance in this morning’s debate:

2. Jon Huntsman's breakout. Huntsman picked up a thread from the night before to jab back at Romney, who had dinged him for serving in the Obama administration. "He criticized me while he was out raising money for serving my country in China. Yes, under a Democrat. Like my two sons are doing in the United States Navy. ... I will always put my country first." When Romney replied that conservatives ought to oppose Obama, not support him, Huntsman replied: "This nation is divided because of attitudes like that." It was the best job he's done at making his centrist vision accessible and relevant.

Could Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman defeat Obama?

Jon Huntsman. Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com.

It must be apparent by now to most sentient beings that the results of the Iowa caucuses offered nary a candidate capable of igniting even a modicum of enthusiasm in the 2012 presidential race. And as E. J. Dionne, a worshiper of Barack Obama in 2008, recently observed:

As the attention of the politically minded has focused on the rather more down-to-earth contests in Iowa and New Hampshire that will help determine which Republican will face Mr. Obama in November, let us ponder what the coming year will bring for someone who must now seek re-election as a mere mortal.

Oh, but E. J., out there on the horizon in the New Hampshire Republican primary, Jon Huntsman could emerge as a candidate whose qualifications for the presidency just might excite currently lethargic Republicans, Democrats, and independents sufficiently to defeat incumbent Obama. It seems as if, Obama, like Icarus, flew too close to the sun and got his wings melted.

In today’s LA Times, Michael A. Memoli reports from N.H.:

In its endorsement of Jon Huntsman, the Boston Globe made largely the same case for the Utah governor’s candidacy that the candidate himself has to New Hampshire voters -- that he is the rare GOP candidate prioritizing the national interest over ideology.

The Globe, which has a reach into many southern New Hampshire homes, snubbed former home state Gov. Mitt Romney for the second time in its endorsement for the first-in-the-nation primary, after backing John McCain in the 2008 vote.

Both Huntsman and Romney, the paper’s editorial board writes, "have track records of success" and "have shown the breadth of spirit to lead the nation."

"But while Romney proceeds cautiously, strategically, trying to appease enough constituencies to get himself the nomination, Huntsman has been bold," the Globe said.

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