Jeff Smith: Is John Huntsman Too Moderate?

There are two things Huntsman probably needs in order to claim the nomination:

1) Perry or another formidable candidate from the party’s right wing to get in.

Romney has the money and national infrastructure to go the distance, and if there is only one candidate emerging from the right – Bachmann, Cain, Palin, whoever – that’s good for Romney, as it will frighten mainstream Republicans into coalescing around him. So, Huntsman needs at least two strong candidates from the party’s right wing, and Perry’s potential entrance can muddle things enough on the right that so that establishment types will be OK with two strong candidates from the “moderate” wing.

2) Since Romney also has personal money in addition to having spent five years criss-crossing the country meeting bundlers, Huntsman needs to figure out a way to tap his vast family fortune.

I’m not sure about this, but I saw an estimate of Huntsman’s personal fortune at $15M. That’s about enough for New Hampshire – not for the nomination. His father is apparently a billionaire, according to estimates, but he needs to figure out the logistics of making that money available for campaign use. Does that mean his father gifts him $100M and then pays gift taxes on it? Maybe. Does it mean his father does a giant IE? Who knows. The optics aren’t good with either option. I suspect they’ve thought through this, but the logistics of it, and the subsequent perception, could have outsized influence on the way his candidacy is perceived – especially in a post-Bunny-money era.

Cross posted, with permission of the author, from Politico’s Arena