Romney is going to crash and burn. He'll be the Brylcremed Mormon that couldn't. He will do one thing, though--he'll make being Mormon "less of an issue" four years from now.
Huntsman will have name/face recognition as a consequence of this run, and if he's smart, he'll occupy himself usefully in the next four years in a way that puts him in the public eye in a positive way.
In that time, this Tea Party/Crazy Shit on the GOP side will likely deconstruct. The GOP is sick of the nuttiness, that's pretty palpable--they're going to ratchet back and try to start sounding less insane, probably sooner than later. They will still be distasteful, they just won't sound so batshit nuts when they regurgitate their garbage.
Also, the longer Huntsman hangs in there, the more likely he'll get a good speaking slot at the convention, and if Romney stumbles, Huntsman could be the guy who came from behind, the Dark Horse.
His father has billions, and a PAC for his baby boy, ready to spring into action if stuff starts looking good.
He's not wasting OUR time. We've got a candidate. He's making the other GOP crazies look crazier than usual with his calm and adult demeanor--like a black velvet background on a psychedelic Elvis painting. He's playing the "compare and contrast" game. For someone to come in third after no one had heard of him, on the strength of just a few PAC ads and a fair amount of shoe leather, suggests something--and what it suggests is that this isn't a done deal, yet.
Reagan ran once for practice, too...remember?
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