Natalie Gonnella
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Jon Huntsman officially entered the 2012 presidential race on Tuesday, and while he has attempted to define himself as a Reaganesque, reform-minded Republican, the former governor still has a lot to prove to GOP and conservative voters.
Despite Huntsman's noteworthy array of experience, as expected yesterday's launch unleashed a flood of critique from all sides of the political spectrum as many remain skeptical of his ideology and electability (although Harry Reid appears to be a fan).
The most moderate GOP candidate currently in the race, here's a look at what a number of conservatives have had to say about Huntsman's bid for the White House:
John Guardino, FrumForum:
Somehow, someway, Huntsman needs to depict himself not as the “liberal” or “moderate” Republican, but as the “reform-minded Republican” like Congressman Jack Kemp. Unfortunately for Huntsman, that’s easier said than done...The bottom line: Huntsman in 2012? No way, no how. But Huntsman in 2016? Maybe, but politically speaking, that’s light years away. We’ll have to wait and see.
David Frum, FrumForum:
The entry of Jon Huntsman into the GOP races inspires great hope for governance-minded Republicanism. Here is a candidate who is intelligent and responsible, who rejects the “all-out war” model of politics, who shows that a father of seven can also be culturally modern and who has integrated the environment into his priorities. All excellent!
But Huntsman has from the outset imposed a dangerous and unnecessary disability on himself. It’s the same one that felled the Rudy Giuliani campaign in 2008, so I speak from painful experience here.
Mark McKinnon, The Daily Beast:
Huntsman is laid-back and civil, even in his criticism of Obama: “[He] is trying to pick up the pieces of our economy and make sense of a world grown more complex and confusing.” But don’t let the calm exterior fool you. A tax-cutting, jobs-growing Mormon with seven kids, who rides motocross and who dropped out of high school to play in a band, he is a man of roiling contrasts and strong principles.
It’s an unconventional time. Voters are looking for someone different—maybe someone like Jon Hunstman.
Jonathan S. Tobin, Commentary:
Republicans want their potential candidates to offer a genuine alternative to Obama rather than a civil opponent with a different party label. Huntsman’s campaign guru John Weaver has consciously sought to position Huntsman as a moderate in much the same way John McCain did when he ran for president in 2000. But just as Huntsman is nothing like Reagan, he has just as little in common with a genuine hero like McCain. The former Utah governor seems like a nice guy, but he’s an empty suit when compared with either former Republican leader.
AllahPundit, HotAir:
Isn’t this basically just a smarter, more polished version of a Charlie Crist 2012 campaign? Slick, mavericky governor, a “different kind of Republican,” willing to break prior commitments to chase his national ambitions, reviled by the base for his centrism and his chumminess with Obama...Huntsman is a longshot, swimming upstream against both the tea party and Romney’s better-funded, higher profile campaign, and destined to take a beating from the grassroots while he’s running.
Michelle Malkin, Washington Examiner:
[Un]nderneath the Steve McQueen costumery, this made-for-cable-TV Moderate Speed Racer is a creaky old John McCain on Wheels...Huntsman is the latest no-labels flavor of the month, a straw man of the same people who have spent the past year smearing entitlement reformers as senior citizen-killers, budget hawks as Hitler's spawn, border-security activists as racists, and leading GOP women as sluts, nuts and bimbos.
Huntsman looks better as a VP candidate rather than at the top of the ticket.
Perry-Huntsman for 2012?
Posted by: Ricardo's Ghost | June 22, 2011 at 12:05 PM