Huntsman Formally Launches Bid for GOP Nomination

Jon Huntsman, former Utah governor and ambassador to China under President Obama, formally announced his candidacy Tuesday morning in Jersey City, N.J., with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.

He pointed to his experience in business, as well as his time as governor and in diplomacy, as the underpinnings necessary to be in a leadership role. Hunstman was optimistic about the upcoming campaign and economic progress. “I’m from the American west, where the view of America is limitless,” he said.

Huntsman expressed respect for the president, but pointed to differences in policy, with an emphasis on the need for new jobs and economic growth, saying: “We will not be the first American generation that lets down the next generation.”

According to the Tuesday’s Morning Line, he has sought to fill in gaps to an American public that knows little about him, but:

[N]one of that is likely to ease Huntsman’s path to the nomination. He’s still going to have to find a way to get conservative Republican activists — the folks who tend to show up in primaries and caucuses — to warm to a stimulus-embracing, gay-civil-union-advocating, former-cap-and-trade-proponent who just left the Obama administration.

In addition,

Because of his potential fund-raising prowess, potential attraction to independent voters and impressive resume, Huntsman is getting a very serious look from the press and many in the GOP establishment.

His challenge now is to move from flavor of the month to serious contender. That work begins, in earnest, Tuesday.

We’ll have more analysis from Political Editor David Chalian on Tuesday’s NewsHour. Stay tuned.