Huntsman Finds Center Stage
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. approached his first retail-politicking trip to New Hampshire with a caution honed by diplomatic training, as he declined to commit to positions on issues from Afghanistan to climate change. But the crowds that packed a steakhouse in Hanover, a stately home on Keene’s Main Street, a farmhouse in Hancock and a VFW post in Concord showed the open nature of the Republican primary contest here—and the potential of a candidate running to the center in a field crowded to the right.
“I’m not going to give myself a label,” Mr. Huntsman said Friday as he was prodded at a news conference to embrace a description, conservative or moderate. “I’m a pragmatic problem solver.” In his five-day trip through New Hampshire, the nation’s first presidential primary state, Mr. Huntsman has tried to turn one of his biggest potential liabilities, his service to the Obama administration as ambassador to China, into an asset—proof of his patriotism and his commitment to service.
“My president asked me to serve in a time of war, in a time of economic difficulty. I’m the kind of person that, when asked to serve my country, I do,” he told voters in Hanover Thursday night. On other potential liabilities, he has been less clear. He did not highlight his past stances in favor of capping carbon emissions to control climate change, allowing civil unions for gay couples and wanting more, not less, economic stimulus—but he has not shunned them, either.