The field of Republican candidates for president in 2012 has been criticized by pundits for its weakness, and polling has shown that GOP voters haven’t exactly been satisfied with their choices. But the paper of New Hampshire’s state capitol, the Concord Monitor, thinks there’s at least one candidate who could provide voters with a real choice without being a flawed nominee — former Ambassador and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.
Granted, the paper says it disagrees with Huntsman on some major issues — health care reform, extending the Bush tax cuts, abortion, gay rights — but the Monitor’s basic argument comes down to the idea that a Huntsman nomination actually provides voters with two real possibilities for 2012. “Huntsman, a consistent but never doctrinaire conservative, would present the greatest challenge to Obama,” the paper wrote, saying “If elected, he would provide mature, informed and steady leadership,” and citing Huntsman’s career as a public servent at various levels of government.
But while Huntsman got a gold star, the paper saved its best lines for criticism of the two New Hampshire frontrunners, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. “With Gingrich, voters would get an unpredictable, unprincipled nominee and, should he be elected, a white-knuckle four years of an imperial presidency,” the Monitor wrote.
For Romney, the paper riffed on the Democratic National Committee’s favorite theme — there are two Mitts, and it’s a mystery to which one will show up. Voters don’t know if they’ll get “…the moderate Mitt who was once pro-choice, in favor of a health-care mandate, a supporter of the auto industry bailout and a believer that human activity was contributing to climate change — or the newly conservative Romney, who opposes abortion, claims the reason for climate change is unknown, opposes a health insurance mandate and claims that bailing out Detroit was a mistake.”
And in the end, the Monitor drove the point home by making reference to Huntsman’s “honesty” and willingness to take on issues outside of traditional conservative orthodoxy. “Huntsman’s depth of experience, maturity, sincerity and ability to work toward a common goal with political opponents make him the Republicans’ best choice to face President Obama in 2012,” the editors summed up.