I’ve been telling people, almost verbatum, what Matthew Wilson said in this article from the Deseret News:
“I would say this is really bad news for him if he’s running that far behind Romney in Utah, where name recognition is not a disadvantage,” Wilson said. “If he can’t hold up to Romney even in Utah, it’s hard to see where he could surpass him.”
It is indeed hard to imagine Hunstman doing well nationally while his own state that he Governored prefers Mitt Romney over him by almost double the percentage points. To me, it’s almost incomprehensible that Huntsman cannot see the writing on the wall. However, if he puts all his effort in New Hampshire, and can take the state out from under Mitt Romney, he has a much better chance of knocking Romney out of the race…but I don’t see that happening.
On pollster thinks that having to Mormons in the race will make it more difficult for each other:
“I think there are those who feel that having two Mormons will make the issue of religion much more predominant than it ought to be,” Jones said. “They might stop each other from getting the nomination.”
More about the poll:
The poll found that his support falls even lower among Republican respondents, dropping to just 15 percent compared to 72 percent for Romney. Utah’s GOP primaries are closed to non-Republicans.
“Wow,” said Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, the co-chairman of Romney’s 2008 campaign in Utah. “That probably goes to some of the stands Gov. Huntsman took.”
Still, Valentine said it’s way too soon to write Huntsman off as a candidate. “He’s starting down. The data shows that. But not a viable candidate? I don’t think the data shows that.”
State Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Holland said having Huntsman on the ballot could lure Democratic and unaffiliated votes.
“There is a lot more concern about a Huntsman candidacy because it’s harder for us to draw a distinction,” Holland said. “He’s got a stronger likability and approval rating with our target voters.”
Read more here.
I was very surprised at this line from Romney’s speech:
We are only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy
What on Earth does he mean? I have always found Mitt to be sensible but that statement seems like outlandish fear-mongering. Is that what it takes to get the nomination these days?