CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Huntsman suspends campaign, endorses 'unelectable' Romney

Jon Huntsman's "country first " campaign for the 2012 Republican nomination ends.

After announcing his withdrawal, Huntsman endorsed Mitt Romney.

Just ten weeks ago, on Meet the Press,  Huntsman said Romney was unelectable against Obama.

Huntsman's rationale for now backing Romney, who he has criticized for weeks on the campaign trail as lacking a "core," is that he doesn't want to block the person best prepared in the field to beat Obama.

As soon as word was out that Huntsman was quitting and would endorse Romney, team Huntsman sent out the scrubbers to remove his criticism of Romney from the web including:

• Huntsman's "Backflip," video that highlighted Romney’s flip-flopping on abortion, gun rights and Ohio’s proposal to curb bargaining rights for unions.
• Huntsman's video calling Romney of being a “perfectly lubricated weather vane” because of Romney's changes on issues.
• Huntsman's Web site produced to mock Romney's offer to bet Rick Perry $10,000.

What happened to the Jon Huntsman that gave the nominating speech for Governor Sarah Palin at the 2008 Republican nominating convention?

Obama's strategy of co-opting Huntsman by appointing him to be ambassador to China worked. More 50% of Huntsman's New Hampshire voters said they were satisfied with Obama as president.

Huntsman bet his whole campaign on New Hampshire, where he came in a disappointing third.

Jon Huntsman says Romney is unelectable against Obama

On the November 6, 2011 edition of Meet The Press, Jon Huntsman says Mitt Romney is unelectable against Barack Obama.

"I think when you're on too many sides of the issues of the day, when you don't have that core, when there's that element of trust out there, I think that becomes a problem. And I think it makes you unelectable against Barack Obama." -- Jon Huntsman November 6, 2011.

Here's the video. The discussion about Romney begins at the 2:40 mark. The unelectable quote is at the 6:10 mark.

From the Meet the Press transcript for November 6, 2011:

MR. GREGORY: Mitt Romney was the one who you were supposed to be drafting most closely. Everybody talked about Huntsman, Romney fighting this thing out in New Hampshire and beyond. You haven't come close to him yet. Yet, you think there's a real issue with whether he can beat President Obama.

MR. HUNTSMAN: Well, I, I think there is an, an issue on the flip-flops as it relates to trust. I don't know that he can go on to beat President Obama, given, given his record. I mean, when there is a question about whether you're running for the White House or running for the waffle house, you've got a real problem with the American people.

MR. GREGORY: And his big flip-flop to you is what?

MR. HUNTSMAN: Well, I think there's a range of them. But when you have something as central as life that you flip-flop on, when you have a Second Amendment, when you have health care, you have a range of issues that--on taxes, for example, that he's been on both sides of. And I think that what the American people want today more than anything else is a level of consistency. They want trust. They want a level of trust in their elected officials.

MR. GREGORY: You think that's a reason why he's capping out at where he is among conservatives at 25 percent or thereabouts?

MR. HUNTSMAN: I, I think that could very well be the issue with not being able to break beyond a certain level. So, if you have 100 percent name recognition in a place like New Hampshire, everyone kind of has done the analysis and made their evaluation, you know, there may be something there that, that doesn't allow you to get beyond a certain ceiling.

MR. GREGORY: I want to ask you about faith and the Mormon faith. You're a Mormon, so is Romney. This was a poll that Quinnipiac took in May that indicated, if you look at the numbers, more than a third think that they're uncomfortable with someone of the Mormon faith being a presidential candidate. Do you think there will be a Mormon president, and when?

MR. HUNTSMAN: Oh, of course there will be. I think this election cycle you--we could very well prove that point. But I think it's a nonsense issue. I, I completely think it's a nonsense issue. There is no bandwidth left in our political discussion to focus any of our effort or time on religion when we've got jobs, when we've got an economy that's broken, when this country has hit the wall. I don't think people are spending a whole lot of time evaluating one's religion. They may have in years past, but I think we're beyond that point this election cycle.

MR. GREGORY: You've talked about other candidates in the race. We've talked about Cain, we've talked about Romney, but you've also talked about some who were too outside the mainstream, too extreme in their views to be elected president. Are you talking about some of your rivals right now in this race?

MR. HUNTSMAN: Well, I'm talking about a Republican Party that dismisses mainstream science. I think in order for us to be successful we've got to win over some independents, we've got to do the math. The math has to be in our favor. You can't run away from mainstream science, for example, and expect, and expect to win the race. You can't be on an extreme end of politics and expect to win over the independent vote. That's going to be a critical calculus in making sure that the next president is a Republican. You can't avoid that reality.

MR. GREGORY: But you would not put Romney in that camp per se. Yet, you're saying unequivocally he cannot beat President Obama?

MR. HUNTSMAN: Listen, when I stand on the debate stage after the whole debt ceiling debate has been had and every single person on that stage was in favor of default, I mean, I don't think you can get any more extreme than that at a time in this nation's history where we've got to stand up as 25 percent of the world's GDP, we've got to fix the problems as opposed to default. A default would have destroyed this economy. Retirements and 401(k) programs would have been shipwrecked.

MR. GREGORY: But my question is, Mitt Romney in your view cannot beat President Obama?

MR. HUNTSMAN: I, I think when you're on too many sides of the issues of the day, when you don't have that core, when there's that element of trust out there, I think that becomes a problem, and I think it makes you unelectable against Barack Obama.

MR. GREGORY: You wouldn't support him if he were the nominee?

MR. HUNTSMAN: Oh, of course I would. Of course I would support him.

MR. GREGORY: But you wouldn't--you don't think that he'd be able to overcome...

MR. HUNTSMAN: But I think the electability issue is a, is a very real one.