Huntsman expects new ‘political reality’ in N.H.
Poll has him in third behind Romney, Paul
CONCORD, N.H. — Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman has held more than 170 events in New Hampshire but so far has been denied a seat at the top of the polls here. On Monday, however, he told a group of volunteers the campaign would defy expectations.
“We are going to wake up Wednesday morning and we are going to see that there is a different political reality out here, and all the conventional wisdom we’ve been hearing about will be upended because that’s what we do here in New Hampshire!” Huntsman said.
Huntsman isn’t there yet, according to the latest poll by Suf- folk University. As of Sunday, the Suffolk poll shows Huntsman in third place behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.
Huntsman had the backing of 13% of those polled, compared with 33% for Romney and 20% for Paul. But Huntsman has risen from 10% a week ago, while Romney had dropped from 43%.
In the past week, Huntsman has stepped up his attacks on Romney, including some barbed comments during a Sunday morning debate, and at several campaign stops Monday.
In Concord, Huntsman contrasted himself with Romney, who said Monday that he likes “being able to fire people who provide services to me.”
“Gov. Romney enjoys firing people; I enjoy creating jobs,” Huntsman said.
The Romney campaign later clarified the remarks in a news release that said Romney was talking about firing insurance companies, not people, if some- one does not like their service.
According to comments from voters at recent Huntsman events, much of his momentum is coming from independent and Democratic voters eligible to vote in today’s primary.
Ruth Curran, 72, a retired nurse from Henniker, N.H., said that she and her husband support President Obama but that they liked Huntsman the most of any of the GOP candidates.
“I’m a Democrat and I’m voting for you,” Sherry Thomas, a hospice chaplain from Warner, N.H., declared upon seeing Huntsman inside Mary’s Bakery and Cafe in Henniker.
Thomas is “thrilled” by Huntsman’s recent momentum. “I’ve had his signs on my street for weeks now.”
Barbara Smith, a freelance writer from Nashua, N.H., said she supports Obama but is weighing voting for Huntsman in the primary.
“The conventional wisdom here is that he didn’t position himself far enough to the right for the primaries,” Smith, 58, said. “He’s too rational and polite.”
It’s that appeal to Democrats and Huntsman’s service as Obama’s ambassador to China that put off some Republicans.
His record might not be conservative enough for Republican voters, said Timothy Meads, a Nashua high school student who waited to hear former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum speak Saturday.
“I think a lot of people, even though he has a conservative record, a lot of people look at him as trying to appease the independents or the liberals a little bit too much,” he said.
Huntsman told USA TODAY in an interview that he was pleased at his recent rise.
“We started at zero. We were the margin-of-error candidate,” he said. “You can’t move the needle in this state unless you get around and shake hands and have town hall meetings and do it the old-fashioned way.”