Obama Campaign Manager: We Were More Concerned About Huntsman As GOP Nominee Than Romney
Jon Huntsman‘s presidential campaign fizzled shortly after New Hampshire, but what could have happened if he managed to stay in the race and actually win the nomination? That would have been a worse scenario for the Obama team than the race they ran this year with Mitt Romney, at least according to Obama campaign manager Jim Messina.
Huntsman’s candidacy against the president was unique from the very beginning given his service under President Obama as the U.S. ambassador to China. In remarks this week picked up by the Salt Lake Tribune, Messina said that Huntsman was considered the biggest threat to the Obama campaign.
“We were honest about our concerns about Huntsman. I think Huntsman [as Republican nominee] would have been a tough general election campaign.”
Senior Obama adviser David Plouffe had expressed such concern even before Utah’s former governor launched his failed presidential bid, with one journalist noting that a Huntsman candidacy made Plouffe a “wee bit queasy.”
Messina said Huntsman’s appeal to moderates could have attracted independents and moderate Democrats that would have otherwise supported the president. When Messina was asked if the ambassadorship was a way to “take him out as a possible opponent,” he said the Obama administration viewed Huntsman as “a committed American who would serve our country well.”
h/t Salon
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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac
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