Huntsman Trades WH Hopes For Great Wall; Meet Gov. Herbert

The real message of President Obama's nominating Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman as ambassador to China?

Well, it does add to Obama's reputation as someone who wants to reach across party lines. It does, for now, remove a potential candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. And it does, pending Senate confirmation of Huntsman, make Gary Herbert the next governor of Utah.

But it also removes Huntsman as a key figure in a shrinking pool of Republican moderates.

 

Huntsman was a national co-chair for John McCain's presidential run in 2008, the same year he was re-elected as governor with 77 percent of the vote — the largest margin of victory ever for a statewide contest in Utah.

But Huntsman, while popular at home and buoyed by a growing national reputation, was often in hot water with GOP conservatives. He has pushed initiatives to reduce global warming. He supports civil unions for gay couples (though opposes same-sex marriages); his views on civil unions caused a Michigan Republican group to cancel his speaking appearance last month under pressure from the right. He had already announced he wouldn't seek a third term in 2012, perhaps aware that conservatives would fight his renomination — with one eye perhaps aimed at the presidency.

John Weaver, the longtime McCain adviser, had signed on with Huntsman to prepare for a potential 2012 run. He is quoted in this morning's Washington Examiner as saying Huntsman was perhaps a month away from forming a political action committee. The article, written by chief political correspondent Byron York, quotes Weaver as saying the GOP could be in for a spate of bad times:

If it's 2012 and our party is defined by Palin and Limbaugh and Cheney, then we're headed for a blowout. That's just the truth.

For the record, Huntsman will be 56 years old in 2016.

New Governor. Say hello to Gary Herbert. Herbert, as a county commissioner, was a candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2004. Shortly before the state convention, he dropped out of the race, endorsed Huntsman, and became the party nominee for lieutenant governor. Herbert and his staff have made it clear from the outset that they have significant differences with the governor — such as the environment and civil unions. State Sen. Curt Bramble is quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune as saying that Herbert — unlike Huntsman, according to the inference — is "in tune" with the majority of Utahns on social issues. And Joe Demma, Herbert's chief of staff, adds:

Global warming needs to be realized before anyone talks about it. The science is not all there. Gary Herbert puts question marks on things that the governor has put periods on.

But it's too early to say that Herbert has clear sailing in what will most likely be a special election next year to hold the seat. The Salt Lake Tribune's Derek Jensen says that while Herbert is the favorite, state Attorney General Mark Shurtleff "could be a strong candidate," though for now he has indicated he will challenge Sen. Bob Bennett, a fellow Republican, for the nomination in 2010. Other GOP possibilities: state Sen. John Valentine, House Speaker Dave Clark, businessman Fred Lampropoulos, Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce President Lane Beattie, bank president Scott Anderson, and University of Utah's Kirk Jowers.

Most mentioned among the Democrats are Rep. Jim Matheson, whose father served as governor, and Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon.