David Corn of Mother Jones asked Jon Huntsman if he thought the GOP had shifted too rightward to win in 2012, and, in a politician’s way, Huntsman said yes:
Mr. Huntsman was raised a polite boy. The candidate was essentially saying that the others are now pandering to right-wing voters, but he won’t. Which pretty much explains why he’s been struggling in the polls, and, despite practically moving to New Hampshire, has yet (according to those surveys) to catch fire among the Live-Free-or-Die GOPers here.
During his talk to the students, Huntsman came across as smart, affable, and slightly goofy. Unlike, say, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, and Ron Paul, he displayed no hatred for anyone: not liberals, not gays, not the government…. [H]e’s not an angry fellow. His dominant emotional theme seemed to be disappointment. He’s sad the economy isn’t growing faster and that people don’t trust elected officials. He only minimally assailed Barack Obama.
Huntsman is the odd man out this year. And he keeps prompting the obvious question: what’s he doing here?
Besides Buddy Roemer, Jon Huntsman is my favorite of the GOP field. I imagine more than a few left-leaning people would agree with me on that one. He’s kind of like an inverse of Joe Lieberman — the Republican wonky lefties like. Even if we like Huntsman, that doesn’t mean that we’d vote for him. It’s not very complicated; he’s a conservative. So there he is in the worst of both worlds: the people who in theory would vote for him resent him for, in their eyes, being a bad teammate; and the people on the other side give him a pat on the head, but nothing more.
And that’s why he can’t break single-digits.