A reader writes:
Forget John Weaver. Huntsman's only path was to consolidate the non-lunatic vote, get the establishment and the media behind him, and hope the base is split among multiple candidates. I can't get over two moments where Huntsman alone absolutely blew it:
(1) The Iowa debate in August when candidates were asked to raise their hands if they would refuse to support a debt deal that had a 10-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to tax increases.
(2) During the Google debate in September when the audience booed a gay, active-duty servicemember in Iraq.
Huntsman raised his hand in August and he stayed quiet in September. He should have "called a timeout" and hijacked the conversation on both occasions. He wouldn't necessarily have needed to stake out radical positions but to simply remind Americans that he is living in the same world as the rest of us.
These are not moments that were anticipated in strategy sessions with John Weaver. If Huntsman had shown that kind of instinct and grit he would have had people like me (life-long Republican who voted for Kerry and Obama) put their day jobs on hold to move to New Hampshire and work for him. That's what we thought we were getting when media profiles called him the Republican Obama. Instead Huntsman seems like a sane, competent pol (which itself sets him apart from the GOP field) but not as special as he would need to be to lead this party out of the wilderness.
Another writes:
Certainly, Huntsman's acknowledgment of climate change, support of domestic partnerships, and work in the Obama administration don't help him with conservative partisans. More broadly, all of this is evidence that he's one who won't toe the conservative line, which, again, doesn't help. All that said, the substance of his positions certainly would seem to make him more attractive than the substance-free Romney. So why can't he crawl above 5%?
Really, let's stop pretending: It's the bias that dare not speak its name. There's already one Mormon in the race, and evangelical Republican partisans have no interest in a second. The only reason Romney is as high as he is, is that he's the last man standing from 2008. He couldn't pull it out against John McCain then, and now he's neck-and-neck - at best - with Herman-Fracking-Cain! Conservatives despised John McCain, but they held their noses and voted for him over Romney, who has proven himself willing to pander to anyone or any position. Now it's happening again, and we have another serious, viable, and eminently competent Mormon in the mix. At what point is someone willing to speak up and call a spade a spade?
There is a religious test in the Republican primary, and Mormons do not pass. It really is that simple.
Another floats an idea:
How would you feel about an Obama-Huntsman ticket? I daresay it would be the anti-MSNBC, anti-Fox News, anti-Moore, anti-Palin, healing the partisan wounds. (Nothing at all against Joe Biden, whom I've always liked.)
The Dish 