No, Joey Scar & Mika, Jon Huntsman didn't stand a chance either

[smorkingapple]

Yeah yeah yeah I know the Obama campaign was fearful of him, mostly because they had him in the administration so attacking him would have been awkward. It still would have happened though.

BUt the campaign showed he was another boring bland white guy who just fit the Presidential stereotype. No charisma, no ability to connect with regular folks, comes from privilege, Mormon, etc. In other words, Romney part 2.

He woulda lost too...

[justiceischeap]

1. With any other Republic candidate they still would have had

their woman problem, Latino problem, minority problem... a different candidate would not have made those problems go away.

However, I will say that someone like Huntsman or Gingrich or Santorum, probably would have been smarter/savvier with how they handled Ohio and they would have done better than Romney in the Town Hall debates. I think a different candidate would have made the race closer but I don't know that it would have made a difference in the winning.

People obviously like the way President Obama is handling things, and they obviously don't like the idea of how the Republic party would do things. Simple as that.

[bushisanidiot]

2. Untii the republican leadership denounces the tea party, they will be stuck with

their tea party base picking candidates in the primaries who are extremists.
if mitt didn't run, they would have picked santorum and it would have been
laughable on election night.

the party won't change unless the leadership tells the base that they need to
change. the base won't like that at all and there will be a third party candidate
that sprouts up in 2016 that will threaten the republican party.

[Sherman A1]

3. He was also an incredibly popular Governor

and after hearing him speak recently I was exceptionally impressed with his views. So I don't think the boring & bland label fits very well. Early on he was the only one in the GOP primaries that I had any concern about. I also knew that being reasonable and moderate would end his Presidential Campaign in the GOP very quickly.

[efhmc]

7. I agree.

[faithfulcitizen]

8. He was the only one I was truly worried about, and I liked him.

But I LOVE my President! ...and the repubs hated him to boot, so it was clear it wouldn't happen.

[dynasaw]

4. Disagree

Huntsman was a moderate republican who was pro-science, pro abortion under certain circumstances, pro women and a seasoned diplomat with seasoned experience in Asia. He would have pulled democrats who were less than thrilled by Obama's early compromises with Wall Street and the the republicans who had crossed over and voted for Obama in 2008.

The republicans instead got caught up in the vortex instigated by the fringe lunatics from which position they couldn't see any other scenarios other than the one that led them to their defeat.

Fact of the matter is that the republican party has morphed into something that no where resembles the party it was.

[Ganja Ninja]

5. They seem to be forgetting something.

He had no support from the GOP base. Each and every primary candidate they had with the exception of Huntsman took their turn as the front runner. And each and every one of them shot themselves in the foot until Romney finally won by default.

This is how pathetic the GOP is. They can't name a candidate that could have come closer to winning than Romney. The fact is that they have to be so far to the right to get support from their base that no one is electable. Just finding a sane sensible candidate from among them is impossible.

[Cosmocat]

6. YEP

it is irrelevant, and any republican needs to shut their pie hole about it, because their party has absolutely NO interest in making him their candidate.

[center rising]

9. Huntsman might not have beaten Obama but...

Her certainly would have connected with a lot more Democrats!!

[satxdem]

10. ...

Why do democrats keep saying Huntsman was a moderate, he was a CONSERVATIVE Utah governor. That's why he was popular, if democrats would have voted for him because they no longer believed in Obama, they were never really supporters in the first place.

[WI_DEM]

11. Not so sure. He would have been a lot tougher, imo.

Santorum and Gingrich would have been like a ride in the park--easy Obama wins. But Huntsman would have made it very, very close.

[smorkingapple]

12. Folks, HE ENDORSED THE RYAN BUDGET!!!

That alone would have killed him.

And he was just not charismatic enough nor forceful enough. Did anyone watch him in teh debates? He didn't win a single exchange and had no memorable moments outside his terrible jokes.

[FrenchieCat]

13. woulda, coulda, shoulda......

How boring!