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October 20, 2011 in Opinion
Huntsman looking for center
MANCHESTER, N.H. – As Republican presidential aspirants assembled Tuesday night in Nevada for their umpteenth debate, it was clearer than ever that Republicans have gotten exactly what they had coming.
Their nominating process, controlled by the religious warriors and anti-government agitators who dominate straw polls, has reached its logical conclusion: The hottest candidate in the field is Herman Cain, a fast-food tycoon who never heard of neoconservatism, has never held office, has no foreign policy and a three-digit number for a domestic policy, and likes to joke about electrocuting illegal immigrants. By contrast, Jon Huntsman, governor, ambassador, the man who in a normal political environment would be the most qualified and formidable candidate in the race, wasn’t even on the stage.
A system that rejects a Jon Huntsman in favor of a Herman Cain isn’t a primary process. It is a primal scream.
Facing the humiliation of being topped by the pizza man, Huntsman boycotted the Nevada debate (given his poor standing in the polls, he might not have been invited anyway) and retreated here to New Hampshire to make his last stand.
It says a great deal about the state of the Republican nominating process that Huntsman is floundering while Mr. Pizza soars. “It’s a new world,” Huntsman told me as we spoke Tuesday in the lobby of his Manchester hotel. “You throw out anyone with any connection to real-world experience in government.”
Huntsman will almost certainly fail, but that doesn’t make what he is doing any less important. He’s betting everything – “a Vegas move,” he called it – that there is still some constituency in the Republican Party for reason and moderation. While Mitt Romney has found success by running away from the moderate indiscretions of his past, Huntsman is begging the voters who chose John McCain over George W. Bush in 2000, not to mention Henry Cabot Lodge over Barry Goldwater in 1964, to re-establish the political center.
I detected some bitterness as he spoke of being hobbled by his impressive resume and getting no credit for his solid record of conservatism on guns, abortion and economics. “If you don’t shove people away and stay in your little corner of Republican Party ideology, you’re seen as something other than pure,” he told me. “If you’ve worked on some of the so-called nontraditional issues like the environment, if you’ve crossed party lines to serve your country … that can be seen as an easy strike against you – whereas in a perfect world that would be seen as a strength.”
Certainly this is not a perfect world.
As Cain and the others in Las Vegas prepared for a debate that would potentially reach millions, Huntsman was in New Hampshire, reaching dozens. The man introducing Huntsman at a law-firm-hosted forum read the bio haltingly, as if unfamiliar with it.
Huntsman labored to project momentum. “I came in as a margin-of-error candidate,” he said. “We’re now up to the low double-digits.”
(Actually, he’s at 8 percent in a recent WMUR New Hampshire poll, vs. Romney’s 37 percent.)
He spoke for 12 minutes. The lawyers fidgeted. “Questions?” he asked. Silence. “Please,” he said. “Lawyers are never shy.”
It’s probably too late for Huntsman. His campaign is in debt and he’s getting 1 percent to 2 percent in national polls. But in New Hampshire, Huntsman has finally found a compelling message. He has shifted from his initial dubious theme – the need for civility – to the worthier goal of fighting for the political center.
In theory, a call to reason could work in New Hampshire, where the far right commands less than a third of the GOP electorate. At least two-thirds of voters here haven’t made up their minds, and Huntsman strategist John Weaver thinks they can be persuaded. “It’s a fork in the road between seriousness and circus,” he said. Weaver has some credibility on this point: He was the architect of McCain’s upset here in 2000.
Huntsman, already out of money, is running out of time. But at least he has a message. “The work of the nation isn’t getting done because we’ve got the extreme elements on both sides that are barking at each other, and the entire middle has been hollowed out,” he said. His task: “You put forward a message that addresses that, and you wonder if people are ready for that.”
I suspect he already knows the answer. But it’s still a stand worth taking.
Dana Milbank’s email address is danamilbank@washpost.com.
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Ed Byrnes on October 20 at 5:12 p.m.
If the Rs are serious about getting the swing voters, and therefore the White House, they would be promoting Huntsman. I have been a progressive voter for decades and am deeply disappointed in Obama because of his clear duplicity on the cannabis issue, when one compares his campaign rhetoric to his behavior in office, and I am hoping for a trustworthy and reasonable alternative to vote for. The Ds have closed ranks and offer no alternative. Out of all the Republican hopefuls Huntsman is the only one, and I do mean only one, that could sway this disaffected progressive voter to cross over, and I know I am not alone.
Offer up Romney, Gingrich or Perry and I will vote for Obama, nominate Koch-Cain or Bachman and I will move to Canada.
Ed
woamike on October 20 at 6:58 p.m.
Ed,
Hunstman? Seriously, I thought you’d be a RP guy with your pot fixation. BTW, what’s the BSA’s policy on their leaders tokin’ and relentlessly advocating (in public, no less) the use of “cannabis”? You did once tell us you’re a scout leader of some sort, right?
“Cannabis”… sounds so much more respectable and sophisticated than “dope”. . .
misjustice on October 20 at 6:58 p.m.
It seems as circus will win, again, in the GOP; as if the last three ring circus, featuring $arah, wasn’t ruinous enough to the GOP’s credibility?
*sigh*
Ed Byrnes on October 20 at 9:59 p.m.
Woam,
My reason for liking Huntsman is that he is a rationalist who can work across party lines in service of his country, which unfortunately won’t go far in today’s national political climate. I spend a bit time of each winter in Utah and got see first hand how he examines issues, makes rational decisions, and doesn’t particularly care about his popularity, which is really quite refreshing.
I totally agree with RP on social libertarianism, just not on every aspect of economic libertarianism. Darwinism is fine among the animals though I believe people have a higher calling.
I am no longer a scout leader by my own conscious choice as of this past June. I am proud of my four years of service with them and the BSA can think whatever they want about whatever they want, after all this is America. My congregation and our national association are against incarcerating people for cannabis, and we actually think that it’s shameful for our country to be second only to North Korea in per capita incarceration rates.
The great thing about America is that we can advocate for what we believe in as often as we want to, and I am not associated with any organization that would prevent anyone from doing just that, nor do I as an individual try to prevent anyone from free expression.
I support your right to publicly disagree with me and anyone else you care to because that is what makes America what it is.
You appear to think it is fine to covertly or implicitly threaten people who don’t agree with you when they exercise their freedom of expression and I always assumed you were a conservative who believed in the constitution, the first amendment, and things like that.
As you can see I use my name in my posts and many other posters are beginning to do so, any particular reason you don’t?
Ed Byrnes
greenlibertarian on October 20 at 10:56 p.m.
Huntsman is the MOST hated of GOP primary candidates. Experienced in leadership and diplomacy, worked for the Kenyan userper, member of the reality based community, NOT anti-science.
He’s toast, said so long ago.
Koch-Cain is the flavor of the month, carny that he is.
It’s gonna be Willard and Marc, not Marco Rubio. The birthers will go nuts. Oh, they’re already nuts. Never mind. Rubio cements Flor-ee-tha, and puts several heavily hispanic swing states in play. Social conservative hispanics will go for that ticket, while the Tali-Baptists sit it out.
misjustice on October 21 at 7:51 a.m.
Intrade.com is “predicting” that Mitt Money has a 66.5% chance of winning the nomination versus 7.5% for Koch-Cain and a 2.5% chance for Huntsman. Go to their web site to view other predictions.
Ed Byrnes on October 21 at 10:58 a.m.
Wormlike,
I asked you one direct and simple question at the end of my response to you.
Ed