New Yorker Profile: Huntsman Campaign Worried Daughters’ Sense Of Humor May Hurt Campaign

by Frances Martel | 4:22 pm, November 5th, 2011

» 23 comments

Jon Huntsman is the sort of dad who would console his teenage daughter’s boyfriend when he crushes the boy’s father in an election. This the most recent development from a fascinating profile in New Yorker of the Republican candidate’s daughters– particularly Liddy Huntsman, the one with Saturday Night Live aspirations– and the tension within the Huntsman campaign about their comedic recklessness.

The profile, by Ryan Lizza, has some hilarious anecdotes about the sisters in it, which lead the story. One, in particular, reveals that at least one of the Huntsman girls has been a repeated problem for his political career, though one he has always been able to temper:

When Huntsman was running for governor of Utah, in 2004, Liddy, then sixteen, began seeing the son of his Democratic opponent. The night before the election, Huntsman found his daughter at her computer engaged in a tearful instant-messaging chat with the boy, Briggs Matheson. “My dad was, like, ‘What is going on?’ ” Liddy said. “I’m, like, ‘You can’t win, Dad. Briggs says his life is over if you win.’ ” Huntsman sat down at his daughter’s computer and, pretending to be her, consoled the distraught boy over I.M. (The next day, he crushed Briggs’s father at the polls.)

The article also indicates that there is some tension between former campaign staff and the Huntsmans, whose Twitter account is run without much of any oversight by the campaign, as are their videos, like their parody of Herman Cain‘s “Smoking” ad. The girls seem to feel the campaign doesn’t understand their sense of humor. “We are the only ones providing some honest humor in this race,” said Abby Huntsman, while Liddy Huntsman– the one who tweeted a “Panda Express” foreign policy joke at Mitt Romney– seemed entirely dismissive of the concern.

Another confession? Seeing someone like Romney towering over Huntsman in the polls is “humbling to them”– that being the candidate they seem least enthralled with. “Romney will do whatever he can to be President, and everyone knows that,” Abby Huntsman told Lizza, disappointed that this seemed not to deter his campaign.

[Photo via]

2012 elections, Huntsman Daughers, Jon Huntsman, New Yorker, Republicans, Ryan Lizza

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_A4OJ2F7ADXSD7OMEUUEQDQDZ2Y Dustin Baker

Just like a liberal to raise arrogant and self centered children.
Anonymous

You mean he is fearful he may fall below his current 1%?

LMAO
Texan

Too damn funny!
Irish189

how did you reach that conclusion about his children from this article?
Irish189

1. Does anyone realistically think Huntsman’s campaign is going anywhere in this political environment?

2. That Hermain Cain add was ridiculed by everyone from Bill O’Reilly to Ed Schultz, grant you they’re pundits but considering Huntsman’s poll numbers any publicity would be good for him at this stage

3. What exactly are these girls doing that is so bad again?
Anonymous

Huntsman: the other white Mormon with good hair. The Not Not Mitt Romney. If beige were a flavor, Huntsman would taste like beige.
yungchii

Jon Huntsman should have just stayed in his former job
http://gawker.com/5482474/the-mysterious-case-of-toure-praising-raped-slaves-for-seducing-massa Touré’s insane mf cousin Phd

I bet if they do their next funny video in fluent Mandarin, their Daddy will rise 100% in the polls to 2%!
david r

Looks like those cuties are about the only thing interesting about the whole campaign.
Anonymous

The same way he reached the conclusion that Jon Huntsman is a liberal.
Anonymous

Jon’s daughters are hot!
Jhj

No one wants Jon Huntsman to be president. I think that’s a slightly bigger issue for his phony “campaign” than his douchey daughters.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LDO6LIQBI2JQ4Q5MWLWBKGKSJY bensanity

They’re attention whores. Their sense of humor didn’t affect my opinion of them nearly as much as their self-consciousness about their sense of humor affecting the campaign. And this is nothing but a media fluff piece to try and raise Ol’ 2% in the polls.
Irish189

1. i hate to break this to you, on some level most politicians are attention whores but if you want to really blame someone for giving them attention wouldn’t that be the media who reported the story?

2. Generally when someone defends something like their humor its in response to a bone headed question asked by a reporter, its not normally something people are usually inclined to volunteer, in this case I’ll wager that context is probably the same

3. Media fluff to raise poll numbers, welcome to american politics
Anonymous

Isn’t Huntsman polling around 0.2% or so? I don’t write for the New Yorker though, so maybe it really is the daughters’ sense of humor that’s keeping him from the GOP nomination.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BP4EOBS54QVBWS4N2XBWJNSOAY bkisses08

idiots using their daughters as pawns.. thats exactly what scott brown did..
12voltRubberPenis

Don’t worry, dude. He’s a liberal and conservatives know it. Now, how many colored people should be president? Isn’t one affirmative action white guilt failure enough? If brown were a flavor, obongo would still taste like colored failure!
12voltRubberPenis

Don’t worry, dude. He’s a liberal and conservatives know it. Now, how
many colored people should be president? Isn’t one affirmative action
white guilt failure enough? If brown were a flavor, obongo would still
taste like colored failure!
12voltRubberPenis

The height of liberal pride. A group photo with deformed ear.
Anonymous

If you are at 1% to 2% in national polls, anything that keeps you in the news is a good thing, absent Louisiana Governor Edwards’ “live boy or dead girl in your bed”.
Anonymous

I saw the Huntsman girls on that Fox & Friends clip not too long ago. They seem like the kind of people who think of themselves as the ‘crazy funny ones’ for adding ‘…not!’ to a sentence.
CONservative

I KNOW LOOL! that’s HILARIOUS! /roflmao
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Q6S2GMV36W5ZP6L6KDUYO3UVII Anonymous

They just want their dad to win…what’s wrong with that?

I wouldn’t vote for their dad though… mainly because he was part of the Obama admin. If you can hold your nose and walk amongst that criminal stink there might not be any limits to the flexibility of your spine.