BEIJING — U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr. deflected any discussion of a possible presidential bid, saying he won't make a decision about his future until after he returns to the United States in two weeks.

"While in China, we serve our country, we don't do politics," the former Utah governor told KSL-TV during a wide-ranging interview this week about his experiences since leaving Utah in 2009.

Even though Huntsman isn't ready yet to reveal his political aspirations, supporters are already gearing up for a possible presidential campaign in 2012 in New Hampshire and other key primary states.

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"We're going to have a lot of opportunities as a country in terms of job creation and economic opportunities, so it's actually pretty timely that the Utah delegation is over here furthering the relationship, building and looking at new market opportunities, export opportunities, because this will be America's largest export market in short order," Huntsman told KSL News.

Huntsman said he and his wife, Mary Kaye, are ready to reunite with their older children still living in the United States and spend more time with their youngest adopted daughters Asha and Gracie Mei.

"You have maybe a return to normalcy in the sense that you can be parents again and enjoy some time with your family, while at the same time evaluating other possibilities over time that might allow for you to continue to give back in unique ways," Huntsman said.

Just what those ways might be — and whether they include a run for the Republican nomination — remains to be seen. "(I) don't know the answer to that yet," Huntsman said.

The answer is likely to come soon.

"We'll return to the states in two weeks and kind of evaluate where we are at that point, look at public options and private options, and gather together as our little family and discuss where we go from there," he said.

If Huntsman chooses to seek the White House, teams of supporters ready to campaign are already in place in a number of states, including New Hampshire, South Carolina, Michigan and Florida.

"If he would decide to run, I'd be honored to support him," said Peter Spaulding, a Merrimack County commissioner and the top adviser in New Hampshire to Horizon PAC, the political action committee formed by Huntsman supporters last year.

Spaulding, who ran Arizona Sen. John McCain's 2000 and 2008 New Hampshire presidential campaigns, told the Deseret News that Huntsman is a welcome fresh face. He said the pair met when Huntsman campaigned for McCain in New Hampshire in the 2008 race.

"He's a new candidate. He's a conservative candidate, but yet he has some lifestyle, like the motorcycle riding. He was (performing) with REO Speedwagon," Spaulding said. "He's not rigid. He's got a real life. I think that type of thing appeals to New Hampshire voters."

Huntsman is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Southern New Hampshire University just outside of Manchester on May 21, and Spaulding is already assembling a "wish list" of other events where he can meet with voters in what is traditionally the first state to hold a presidential primary.

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John Weaver, a top adviser to McCain in the 2008 race and a founder of Horizon PAC, said he expects to sit down with Huntsman as soon as he's back in the United States.

"Only he can define his decision making process. We'll have recommendations for him," Weaver said, declining to detail his plans, until Huntsman has vetted them. "Everything is conjecture until he's back."

Weaver said he's backing Huntsman because "he's able to advance his principles, which a lot of us share, in a way that's quite refreshing. He's a problem-solving conservative."

And, Weaver said, Huntsman is the only potential GOP presidential candidate with foreign policy experience. "He has the kind of record that will resonate, if he chooses to run, across the spectrum of our party."

Huntsman's more moderate positions, including favoring civil unions for gay couples, may be tempered, Weaver suggested, by his having been elected twice as a popular governor in one of the country's most conservative states.

Weaver would not, however, speculate on whether Huntsman's Mormonism would become an issue as it has for another LDS presidential candidate with Utah ties, Mitt Romney.

Romney, who announced Monday he was forming a presidential exploratory committee, unsuccessfully attempted in 2008 to court evangelical conservatives who don't view Mormons as fellow Christians.

Spaulding said that won't be a problem in New Hampshire. "Religion is not an issue here," he said. "I like to think that New Hampshire is a very sophisticated, diverse state."

University of New Hampshire political science department chairman Dante Scala agreed. "The effect of Mormonism for both Romney and Huntsman are minimal here," Scala said.

A bigger difficulty for Huntsman, though, may be becoming known in a state where Romney has run before and other potential candidates, like former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, are already campaigning.

"There's a small core of activists in the state. This is their hobby, to follow a presidential race. They know who Huntsman is," Scala said. "But your average primary voter? No."

He said Huntsman will have to spend big on advertising to "get his story out there to New Hampshire voters and to get himself out of the 'who's that' category, because that's where he is now."

University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank said that might be enough to keep Huntsman from running.

"I think there's a real chance he won't do it," Burbank said. "Because I think one the things he may do is get back here and start talking to people and find out there's no base of support for him and that next time might be better."

Compiled with contributions from John Daley and Lisa Riley Roche

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