Call Of The Huntsman

Former Obama Ambassador to China and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is throwing in his hat, to the deafening silence of pretty much everyone.

Former Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman will formally announce his bid for the presidency next week at Liberty State Park in New Jersey, with the Statue of Liberty as the backdrop, a Republican source told CNN on Tuesday.


Huntsman was Utah's governor from 2005-2009 before President Barack Obama -- the man Huntsman will be vying to unseat -- appointed him to the top diplomatic post in Beijing. That service, as well as his break with GOP orthodoxy on issues like climate change and civil unions are likely to be fodder for his rivals in the Republican primaries.

He has scrambled to assemble a campaign since returning to the United States at the end of April, making appearances in the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina in May. He has reportedly decided he would skip the Iowa caucuses, the first GOP presidential contest, because of his opposition to ethanol and farm subsidies -- two issues dear to Hawkeye State voters.

Huntsman did not take part in Monday night's CNN-sponsored Republican debate in New Hampshire.

Huntsman's problem is that he's way too moderate to survive the primaries, to the point where skipping Iowa means he absolutely has to win New Hampshire...and that's just not going to happen.  It would be a miracle if he broke the top 5, in fact.  

He's already roundly despised by most of the right, to the point where he's already trying to reintroduce himself to the Republican party.  I've got news for Huntsman:  your party loathes you.  the loathe you because you were Obama's ambassador to China.  They loathe you because you don't hate gays enough.  They loathe you because you don't hate science enough.  They loather you because you might be the one reasonable Republican candidate left, which means you have zero chance (as in less than Herman Cain.)

If anything, Huntsman just confirms how far to the right the political paradigm in this country has gone in just a few short years.

He'll be thrown out of the clown car almost as quickly as he entered it.  There's no room for a Republican candidate that's anywhere close to reasonable.