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SALT LAKE CITY -- What with all the weather-related news, the devastation in Missouri, the weekend apocalypse-that-wasn't, it's understandable that you may have missed one of the most significant political stories in Utah history.
Our former governor had his unofficial coming-out party on a national stage, and by all early indications, it went rather well.
Jon Huntsman Jr. starred on Good Morning America, made the front page of USA Today, found himself surrounded by a small army of political reporters during his trip to New Hampshire, and is now mentioned in the same breath as fellow former governors Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty when the pundits gather on cable television to handicap the GOP primary race.
In a milestone moment on MSNBC on Monday, a respected political journalist went so far as to suggest Huntsman may not only be a contender for the GOP nomination, but for the presidency itself. On "Hardball with Chris Matthews," Time Magazine Correspondent Mark Halperin said of Huntsman's tour through New Hampshire: "He showed potential this weekend on a range of issues that if he lives up to it, I think he'll be the next President of the United States."
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Utahns would choose Romney over Huntsman for president
More than twice as many Utahns would vote for Mitt Romney over Jon Huntsman Jr. in a GOP presidential primary, according to a new Deseret News/KSL poll.While Huntsman's religious conviction tends to grab headlines in Utah, on a national level, the issue that repeatedly surfaces is whether his service as President Barack Obama's ambassador to China is a serious political liability. The way Huntsman has handled it so far, however, could foreshadow its morphing into a powerful selling point.
The conventional wisdom is that a sizeable block of the GOP electorate won't find it possible to forgive Huntsman for not only serving Obama, but for also showering him with fawning praise in a thank-you note that referred to the President's great leadership skills. The President himself has made it a point to make the same statement whenever Huntsman's name comes up.
But Huntsman has deftly dealt with the issue by referring to it as a simple act of service to his country. And when he speaks of it, one senses the formative phase of a Kennedy-esque call to duty that would play well among those who feel the country is headed in the wrong direction.
On that point, Huntsman likes to use the word "inflection" when describing America's current place on the historical curve. Not "cross-roads" or "turning point," but "inflection," which Webster's defines as the "act or result of curving or bending."
It is a hint of a candidacy likely to be less strident, more subtle and more tuned to nuance than we've recently come to expect. It was a style we will recall in Utah, where the former governor was able to take positions on issues that strayed from the conservative GOP doctrine, but nevertheless managed to garner a 70 percent approval rating.
Email: cpsarras@ksl.com
