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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Washington Post generated more buzz Thursday about former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr. leaning toward a run for the White House.
The newspaper reported that a team of political operatives and fundraisers have begun informal talks and outreach to ensure Jon Huntsman has a base if he decides to run.
The field for a presumptive GOP candidate is still wide open.
GOP Strategist Karl Rove told Doug Wright Thursday morning that for the first time in our lifetime, the Republicans have no clear frontrunner.
"We are predisposed to having a frontrunner and to ultimately, despite all of the rumblings and moving about, to be united behind the frontrunner. This is sort of genetically impossible for Republicans to deal with," Rove said.
Washington insiders say the lack of a strong candidate at this stage in the game may be why Huntsman is weighing his options for 2012 more closely.
Talk of a Huntsman presidential bid has been all the rage since a Newsweek article earlier this month made clear he was seriously considering the possibility.
KSL spoke to the author of that article, McKay Coppins, on Sunday Edition with Bruce Lindsay.
"Nobody has been talking about Huntsman for years. I believe having done an immense amount of research for this story, he is seriously considering a campaign," Coppins said.
Reporters asked Huntsman's boss, President Barack Obama, about the prospect of Huntsman challenging him in 2012 during the Chinese president's official state visit last week.
He replied, "I'm sure he will be very successful in whatever endeavors he chooses in the future. I'm sure that him having worked so well with me will be a great asset in any Republican primary."
Huntsman has kept quiet about the possibility of a national bid, but the Washington Post writes the breadth of the team that has formed to prepare for the possibility of a run suggests he is quite serious.
The list includes well-known GOP fundraisers, several former advisers to John McCain and a few locals, including Zions Bank CEO Scott Anderson.
A comment on the Washington Post article may have summed up Huntsman's chances. A California resident wrote: "At this time four years ago, it was Barack who? So I guess anything is possible."
E-mail:cmadsen@ksl.com
