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SALT LAKE CITY -- We're a few days past the official announcement that Jon Huntsman Jr. will resign the U.S. ambassadorship to China, presumably to run for the White House in 2012.
At this point, prominent political commentators seem to be generally taking one of two positions: either that Huntsman made a very bad decision to run now, or that this is what he needs to do to set himself up to be a Republican frontrunner in 2016. Almost nobody in the blogosphere who isn't associated with Newsweek believes Huntsman has a legitimate shot at winning the 2012 presidential election.
Below are links to pundits opining about the viability of a "Huntsman in 2012" presidential campaign. (If you want to read more on the subject, do a simple Google News search for "Huntsman president.")
We'll start with the most positive of the bunch. Patrick Chovanec at Forbes believes Huntsman won't have trouble distancing himself from Obama and is a welcome addition to the field of candidates.
The Economist contends that Huntsman would've been much better served waiting to run in 2016.
James Fallows at The Atlantic forecasts that Huntsman could be a good presidential candidate long-term, but Fallows zealously believes Huntsman doesn't have a proverbial leg to stand on if pitted against his former boss Barack Obama in a general election.
The American Prospect thinks Huntsman is either delusional or already beginning to position himself for 2016.
Politico talks about the prospects of a "Mormon Primary." It basically points out that Huntsman improves Mitt Romney's chances because it makes a Mormon candidate running for president look more common. It says many experts believe Romney would run away in a "Mormon Primary."
Even some local political experts have questions. Kirk Jowers of the Hinckley Institute of Politics said, "How does he have a chance to win? He's been working for a Democratic president, he hasn't been doing the ground work -- so all those questions come in."
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Story written by Jamshid Ghazi Askar with contributions from Andrew Adams.
