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Subscribe to RSSMANCHESTER, NH -- This morning, GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman confirmed what reporters on the campaign trail in New Hampshire have been seeing for weeks.
"We are going to focus singularly on New Hampshire," the former Utah governor said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." This comes after Huntsman recently brought aboard a new state director, transferred staff from Florida to New Hampshire, upped his town hall appearances, and injected his own $500,000 to keep the operation afloat.
However, a one-state strategy could prove to be a problem for the campaign. The good news for Huntsman: His poll numbers are up in the Granite State, hitting 10% in last week's Suffolk/7News for a third-place finish ahead of Rick Perry. He said last week he is pleased with the momentum.
The bad news: Huntsman might have a national problem on his hands. To appear in the televised debates -- specifically CNN's debate next month -- Huntsman must poll at 2% to meet the minimum requirement. Right now, he is polling at 1%. So he has 20 days to boost his numbers nationally. This could require something of a national strategy, precisely the opposite of what the campaign has been doing as they roll back to focus on New Hampshire. The campaign would not comment on the matter.
Other news in the Huntsman world: Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore expressed major support for the former ambassador to China on CNN this week, calling him "reasonable."
"There's only who has sanity operating inside of him and that's Jon Huntsman," Moore told CNN's Piers Morgan. "If the Republican party and Tea Party were smart, they would run somebody who would not only get the Republican vote but also a big chunk of the independents and maybe some of the Democrats. But they're not... They're on the Tea-tanic."
The Huntsman campaign would not comment on the Moore endorsement.
GOP '12 presidential candidate Jon Huntsman joins Morning Joe to discuss what it's like being out on the campaign trail and why Chris Christie's name just won't go away.
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My Favorate bumper sticker:
Pray for Obama
Psalms 109:8
Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore expressed major support for the former ambassador to China on CNN this week, calling him "reasonable." "Thanks mikey, it's firebaggers like you who told the base to say home
My favorite tea bagger bumper sticker; GREED OVER NEED!
Huntsman's dilemma: Republican or Democrat
"For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue." (David in Psalm 109 2) This is more appropriate prayer....President Obama is the David narrative fighting against the enemies.
As a Christian myself, I find that bumpersticker absolutely offensive, especially since it's followed by “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.” You put that on your car, and you may find yourself talking to the Secret Service. (PS I hated George Bush but I never used my religion to advocate for his removal from office.)
It's pretty funny how dems and lib media try to influence the pick of the repub candidate.
Fooled enough last time, but the repubs won't be fooled again.
Shame for the country that the dems never learn.
All you need to fool a clueless dem is a cute slogan ("Hope and Change") or some stupid insipid bumper sticker ("Greed over Need").
Good thing is that won't fool the indies this time, seems they learn too.
It may take a liberal economic 2x4 to the forehead, but they learn.
Oh yes you will. You guys elected GW twice!
How's this one grab you bob-18... "Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice...err... can't get fooled again!"
True enough. Obama is making a feeble attempt to attack some in the Republican field:
Obama regarding Perry: " . . . . a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change"
Obama thinks Texas is on fire because of climate change? Does he offer any proof of this? Is the east coast soaked with rain because of climate change too? Is the Midwest colder than normal because of climate change? Is it snowing in Peru because of climate change?
This is a simple answer for Obama, not that Obama is simple minded, but his base voters certainly are.
You can't fool republicans they have a different front -runner each day, they are not fooled by any of them they know all their candidates are weak, and the that message is not playing past a hardcore base.
BTW, Psalms 109:8 is
"May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership"
More fun with the candidates. Super fun.
Also all the comments from you libbies about the candidates are silly, but it seems you all have totally forgotten what life was like in 2007, when you had your own circus. And man did you all make a bad pick then.
But tell me libbies - Obama said he was all about jobs and was focused like a laser beam, yada, yada, yada.
So what is he doing today to i the jobs issue? What did he do yesterday or last week?
How come he isn't meeting with Pelosi or Reid?
But you do have to be excited about his plan - just $200k per job. Fantastic. Now of course these are not real jobs and every single one will be gone the instant the funding dries up.
So it's really just welfare. See libbies the government doesn't create real jobs. Real jobs have independent demand and last according to that demand.
All the gov. can do is take money from us and give it to someone else, for a little while.
Ain't the government great?
He's giving lots of really incoherent speeches and stacking his town halls with people that claim they want their taxes raised. And fund raising, Obama is doing a lot of that too.
Reid is fast tracking Obama's "Jobs" plan. It's the third thing on Reid's agenda, or maybe the fourth, right after the Senate gets back from vacation. Later next month, maybe.
Pelosi is as relevant as lint.
Hey, is First Read taking their story ideas from the posts on the Ron Paul thread now?
I posted this an hour and a half ago:"Time for a First Read story on Jon Huntsman"
Gosh guys, you are really getting predictable.
Shall we start guessing what the next story will be?
It has been a while since they denegrated Michelle Bachmann, so I'll go with that one.
John,
You know what they say about "atheists and fox holes" .....
well it is fox hole time for America and even the atheists need to be praying for America.
JoAnnaSmith,
Thanks for the reminder.
That's why you are the best .... most of us can't even keep up with all the stupid crap this guy says everyday.
Easy WCA - always go with Palin, Bachmann or Trump.
Anything but the issues, cause the issues are terrible and horrible for team blue.
Or in Amy-land: the coals just keep getting hotter and hotter, right Amy?
Well done, John. Calling for the death of the President of the United States. Keep it classy, bru.
“Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.”
It's pretty funny how dems and lib media try to influence the pick of the repub candidate.
You mean like Rush the junkie tried to influence the pick of the dem candidate in 2008 with his "operation chaos'???
So what is he doing today to i the jobs issue? What did he do yesterday or last week?
What's Crying Speaker Tan Man or his little boy Eric Cantor doing today to i the jobs issue? What did they do yesterday or last week?
All politicians are liars, jokes, corrupt, and yet the voters keep electing them. It is time for all voters to join the Popular Amendment Movement and help pass the Election/Campaign Finance Reform constitutional amendment. I just posted this as a new petition on We the People, a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov, and ask for your support. Will you add your name to mine? If this petition gets 5,000 signatures by October 27, 2011, the White House will review it and respond! We the People allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the Obama Administration to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets enough support, the Obama Administration will issue an official response. You can view and sign the petition here: http://wh.gov/4Qu Here's some more information about this petition: Help pass the Election/Campaign Finance Reform constitutional amendment found at www.faircampaignreform.us 800 characters doesn't allow for full description of the petition, but essentially there are eleven sections that cover elimination of the Electoral College, setting ONE national primary day eight weeks prior to the general election for all federal offices, setting rules for campaign financing, banning all non-individual contributions (corporate, union, non-profit, PAC's, SuperPAC's, etc.), banning all lobbying of Congress just for starters. www.faircampaignreform.us has the full petition.
At this juncture, if you can't see through the posturing and presentations and find the logic Dr. Paul comes with every single time he opens his mouth then you have done your part to satisfy the machine and see the world through THEIR lens. We beg for consistency and truth, then when its given to us we allow the media to brand it "lunacy." We hope for change, not vote for both. You can all protest that "electability" is the republican dilemma but I believe that I am not the only intelligent person out there, and the message of liberty is not contingent upon the handsomeness of some Manchurian candidate.
A one state strategy makes total sense if Huntsman is aiming more for 2016 than 2012.
I think it is a smart play for a Republican like Huntsman to make in this particular election season.
A one-state strategy also makes sense if you are aiming at Vice President or a position in the Cabinet -- Department of State comes to mind.
That's my bet.
I guess since he's already got the Ambassador thingy checked off.
Since it is unlikely that a moderate will be the nominee for the GOP this election season, it makes perfect sense to utilize a one state strategy. Assuming a 1st - 3rd place finish will give Huntsman name recognition. That will be useful in the next election.
.
Giuliani played the "One-State Strategy" in 2008 with Florida. I'm sure he was proud of the 1 delegate he got. Sadly, Huntsman appears bound towards the same result.
LoL You may be right, but it will be fun to see if he can do it on less than $50 million.
At least it would distinguish him among Republicans as being a true fiscal conservative.
Gov. Huntsman is hardly moderate in his views. He is the "Establishment" candidate -- he worked for President Reagan, President G.H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush....all political appointments (probably because the Huntsman Corp. was a big GOP donor). He parachuted in as CEO of Huntsman Corp., and ran for governor of Utah without having held any other political office. He may be a good person, a bright person, but he is "elite" personnified, and "elite" hasn't been playing well in politics for some time.
He's the "Moderate Republican" candidate for 2016, after the Tea Party has run its course and the "traditional Republicans" try and put the Party back together.
Kate, Gov Huntsman also worked for President Obama, which you forgot to mention for some reason. He was the U.S. Ambassador to China as an appointment by Obama. Huntsman has a lot more government experience than Obama had when he ran 3 yrs ago and is much more qualified than Obama is even now. He has low name recognition since he has never ran in a national race. I doubt he will be the republican nominee but he would be a good candidate and would beat Obama.
Sfcret -- I would happily add that job to the list I mentioned. Why did he run for re-election in Utah, and then, bored with the job, accept another ambassador position? Was it to serve the President? Or to serve himself? He did say (by implication) that our foreign policy has been relatively the same over the last 10 to 30 years, through presidents of both parties.... and he has been a "representative" of our policies, but he never will mention if there are policies he didn't want to "represent," will he. He will never say why he left George W. Bush's administration to run for governor, will he.
Huntsman has an even bigger dilemma if the Tea Party base finds out that Michael Moore thinks he is a good candidate.
You got that right, Steeler Fan. Short of President Obama himself, I can't imagine anyone's endorsement that a GOP candidate would rather have less than Michael Moore's. And I can't imagine a more damning endorsement to the Tea Party than calling one of their potential candidates "reasonable".
Say goodnight, Mr. Huntsman......
Holy cow! Huntsman probably was the candidate most likely to come out ahead after a national campaign against Obama, where the "back to the old days" type of campaign the others espouse will never fly (back to a pre WW I structure of weak government, strong business, a rich business elite, a tiny middle class of smaller business owners and upper-middle managers, and a huge group of non-managerial white collar, low-level technocrats, and blue collar workers who struggle day to day) in a national election. He already is at the bottom of the list for the hard-core right's base, so I guess Michael Moore wants to sure he jinxes him with all the rest of us. Shut up Michael! At least give him a chance!
H.R. 2913 calling for the termination of retirement benefits for those elected to office after passage of the bill is something we all should support. (Sept 14, 2011)
Unfunded pensions are seldom understood and considered by most Americans because they assume that politicians and bureaucrats are briddled....they are not. This would eliminate further participating by those elected after passage at the Federal level and should be duplicated on the State and Local levels.
If you want a chill, ask your state what are the unfunded pension obligations they are currently responsible for in your state....then realize that it is much much worse in Ill, NY, CA, NJ.....it is absurd and unattainable....patch up Soc Sec, Medicare, Medicaid, and unfunded pensions and benefits is all but impossible.....check it out and then tell your Congressman you too want this bill passed.
Huntsman's dilemma is he has a functioning brain. He probably believes the earth is round, is more than 6,000 years old, actually rotates around the sun, probably believes in evolution -- stuff like that --- none of which is accepted in the 21st century Republican Party.
Being endorsed by Michael Moore is a death sentence, not a boost.
He probably already knows that the republican field is got a zero chance for 2012 and he will run in 2016. A look at that debate stage and you will realize that there is not a bit of presidential material on that stage except perhaps Huntsman and you can see how much attention he gets.
Yea, where, oh, where are the jobs? The rich and wealthy are the job creators, we can increase their taxes. Now it is, to many regulations, job creators can't hire because they don't know how the economy and healthcare problems will effect their businesses. So again where, oh, where are the jobs??? And where, oh, where are the $billions$ you all saved by not having your taxes increased for the last 10 months? Didn't use the money to create ONE job, did you???
I see many of the so called conservatives, who lack any common sense, are expousing their usual drivel again today.
If they tell the same falsehood 15 times it then becomes their fact. They really ought to look up the facts instead of just waiting for the 16th iteration of the falsehood.
No wonder this country is in such dire straights, trying to solve problems you must do research and then have the capacity to make informed decisions. Instead we have fourth generation conservatives and liberals who no longer are capable or willing to think. We need to think about our Democracy and what is best for 100% of our people, that requires bargaining, negotiation and compromise on honest issues of importance to all of us.
spanky and others
Yea, where oh where are the jobs? The rich and wealthy are the job creators, we can't increase their taxes, then they won't create/hire workers. Now, where oh where are the jobs? Oh there are to many regulations and we don't know how the economy and healthy care problems will effect or businesses, so we can't create jobs. Oh where oh where are the &billions$ you all saved by not having to pay taxes for at least the last 10 months???In your pockets??? Why not in your employees pockets?? Give them a raise a bonus something to improve the economy, instead of whining and becoming richer and richer.
To any of you complaing about jobs.
To have jobs Congress MUST sit down and negotiate and compromise, if one side just says NO nothing can be accomplished.
To have jobs we are at a desperate junction where Congress must implement a jobs infastructure program, this will start people back to work, with income, able to support their families, pay for goods and services and pay taxes to local, state and federal government. This will start the economy moving forward.
As the economy moves forward business will start to hire.
When the economy improves sufficiently we must address the National Debt, by reducing unneccessary expenses and increasing government revenue. We must balance expenses and revenue in the longer term for the long term.
I would love to hear more of and from Huntsman. I voted for Obama last election and unless there is a viable opponent I will vote for him this year as from what I see the Republican hopefuls is nothing more then a room fool of ignorant lying clowns. I would vote against them to prevent them from completely ruining this country. In fact, anybody with half a brain should stop and think, look at all the damage being done to states where they were elected as governors. It is a hint of what we would see across the country. He is way above the rest in smarts and honor and should run as independent. It baffles me that the press gives so much time for the idiots in the Republican party a stage to bellow out their lies. If accompanied by real journalism where they would all be pointed out right away, on the same show they are spewing forth the vile empty headed rhetoric people would start to smarten up.
As an armchair political junkie I have watched all the GOP debates and read much of the follow-up blogs. I have done Wikipedia research, etc. and Huntsman is the only candidate I would even consider voting for out of the current batch of participants in the process. When you have candidates like Michele Bachmann running it sure makes Huntsman look good. I just wish Hillary would have pulled off winning the 2008 election as I think we would not be in the position we are in now.
no offence huntsman,...yes I am offending.....you look and act like a smoothe talking much ado about nothing late night talk show host.
Republican primary voters would be well advised to support Huntsman. He has a chance to win the general election.
There is something wrong with a party that boos a man who protects his country whatever his sexaul orientation. What it says is sex is more immportant than protecting the nation.
Maybe we should change the name of the Defense department to Sex Department.because form follows function.
I'm sure he's a nice guy, but so-o-o-o BOR-ing! Just another piece of white bread..z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z.
Out of all the candidates Huntsman is the most grounded and has the most experience with our number one nemisis, China. But will that be seen as a plus by the lunatic fringe right, no way. Unfortunately all they're interested in is how much vitriol can he spew like the others have been doing. Too bad because Huntsman could very well capture the Independent vote much needed to defeat Obama.
See?
Knowledge and experience are very important in a president, but looks and charisma are needed to sell the candidate.
With Obama, The looks and charisma are there, but no knowledge or experience. Obama could get by with that if he had reliable advisors. But no, he appoints a bunch of losers to his staff, and they all give him horrible advice. The result?? One failure after another.
It also doesn't help to have his arrogance in thinking he knows it all.
Huntsman is by far the best candidate, but the media ignores him - why?? It's because they are for Obama and manipulating the public. I notice it in the newspapers - there are debates, but no mention of Huntsman...he has foreign policy experience, excellent track record as Governor of Utah...it's crazy. The debates also keep putting Romney and Perry next to each other in the middle and putting Huntsman on the end...the other also-rans have no chance, but he is a bonafide keeper. Can't we do what is best for the country? (I never thought I would agree with Michael Moore on anything but on this he is right).