Stunner: Obama picks Huntsman
From NBC's Mark Murray and John Yang
In a stunning -- and seemingly savvy -- move, President Obama announced this morning that he was nominating Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman to be his ambassador to China. Huntsman speaks Mandarin fluently, has a daughter adopted from China, and served as George W. Bush's deputy U.S. trade representative.
Besides Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who this week announced he's running for the Senate in 2010, Huntsman was shaping up to be the moderate Republican voice in a potential 2012 presidential field that includes Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Mark Sanford, and even Newt Gingrich.
Huntsman favors civil unions for gays and had also been urging to the Republican Party to expand its tent rather than play to its base. In fact, Obama's former campaign manager, David Plouffe, said this about Huntsman recently: "I think the one person in that party who might be a potential is Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah. I think he's really out there and speaking a lot of truth about the direction of the party."
Obama selecting him as ambassador to China, however, probably rules out the possibility that Huntsman might challenge Obama in 2012. As Politico notes, it's the equivalent of George W. Bush hiring John Edwards or Hillary Clinton in 2001-02.
One other thing: John Weaver, John McCain's old moderate political strategist, was advising Huntsman, which triggered even more speculation that Huntsman was potentially eyeing a presidential bid in 2012.
