THE STUMP NOVEMBER 30, 2011
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Huntsmania is on the loose. Just in the past day, Jon Jr. has cracked double-digits in New Hampshire, further fueled speculation of a third-party run if he does not get the Republican nomination and now received an all-but endorsement from the editor of the Boston Herald's editorial page. The piece is titled "The Smartest Guy You've Never Heard Of" and concludes on this note:
Wonky? Sure, but in a spontaneous, unprogrammed way. No handler ever put words in this guy’s mouth. Which indeed gets back to that original question: Why haven’t we heard of this guy? And isn’t it time we did.
Granted, one could probably fit all of the Herald's New Hampshire readers inside one of the larger rest rooms at Fenway Park (the paper's weekday circulation has fallen below 125,000, and it's concentrated in metro Boston), but still, as free advertisement goes, it's something. Meanwhile, Huntsman's chief rival, Mitt Romney, is feeling the heat on the right from an ascendant Newt Gingrich; perhaps seeing an opening, Huntsman fired off a zinger yesterday, declaring that Romney is in the "hip pocket of Wall Street." Can you hear the Harley's engine revving up?
6 comments
This year, the Republican race reminds me of Monty Python's "Upper Class Twit of the Year." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5ba1OKY7Xc
- Nusholtz
November 30, 2011 at 5:56pm
It's far better to know you inherited wealth than to believe you earned it.
- rayward
November 30, 2011 at 7:54pm
Damn. Editor-in-chief Richard Just, it's time to put your game face on. And it won't be with long-form journalism. It won't be with charging your loyal readers to use their iPads. And it sure as hell won't be in allowing Rabid Marty to foam at the mouth front and center. Mr. MacGillis, a blogger under your employ, stated that perhaps Boston Herald's regional circulation is somewhat inconsequential at 125,000. I agree. Your NATIONAL circulation is less than half of that. PLEASE -- get your game face on :) But great post, Mac!
- RJSampson1
November 30, 2011 at 9:49pm
Let the 2016 campaign begin!
- timteeter
December 1, 2011 at 8:00am
Huntsman doesn't want to win the nomination because he doesn't want to win the general in 2012 and be a one-term president. He is building name recognition now to win the nomination and general in 2016 and win reelection in 2020. But Huntsman faces the same challenge as Romney: he's a Mormon in a Christian party. Contrary to reports that Romney's support hits a ceiling or is soft because of his flip-flopping, his problem is that he is a Mormon; indeed, Christians love a redemption story, just not a Mormon redemption story. The essential question for Huntsman is whether one can be considered a secular Mormon, which Romney most decidedly is not, for the Christians may well accept a secular Mormon.
- rayward
December 1, 2011 at 8:25am
Ambivalence. That's what many of us Obama supporters feel about the Republican nomination process. Do we root for Gingrich on the grounds that he would be the weakest candidate or, since there is always a chance that the Republican candidate will win, do we root for Huntsman as the sanest and most reasonable of the lot? 'Tis a dilemma. The only consolation is that whom we root for won't make the slightest difference in the outcome. The Republicans will follow their own inscrutable logic with multiple unpredictable twists and turns, so we might just as well lay back and enjoy the show. And what a show it has been. Cain's 13 year girlfriend said: "I couldn't make this stuff up." Neither could anyone else, including Shakespeare.
- JackR
December 1, 2011 at 9:54am