Jon Huntsman Gets Bush Endorsement...But Not 'That' Bush

Nicholas Freiling | August 10, 2011 2:52 PM

Jon Huntsman, currently seeking the GOP nomination for president, made news this morning, though it wasn't necessarily the good kind. At an event in south Florida, marketed by his campaign as a 'major announcement', the former Utah governor received an endorsement he hoped would help boost his struggling campaign.

(drumroll...)

Jeb Bush!

But no, not beloved-former-governor-of-Florida Jeb Bush. This endorsement comes from his son, Jeb Bush, Jr. The Miami Herald Reports:

With cellar-dwelling poll numbers and a campaign shake-up to boot, Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman plans a "major announcement" on Wednesday morning in South Florida: The endorsement of Jeb Bush Jr.
His campaign said Bush Jr. will serve as national co-chair of GenH, with the mission to reach out to young people. Also joining the campaign is Republican political strategist Ana Navarro, of Miami. Her title: National Hispanic Chairperson.

Said Bush Jr. in a statement: "Jon Huntsman is the best-prepared candidate to defeat President Obama in Florida and across the country. I am confident that his vision will appeal to young voters, who are alarmed at the trillions of dollars in debt being passed to our generation and who desperately seek jobs and economic opportunity. Washington needs a conservative problem-solver with Jon Huntsman’s record of results."

Anticlimactic to say the least. Was this really a 'major announcement'? If anything, marketing such an endorsement as 'major' makes the Huntsman campaign look pretty desperate for attention. And is it even politically wise? In 2008, Jeb Bush, Jr. endorsed Rudy Giuliani...whose campaign was arguably the biggest flop of the election. (And that's not to mention Jeb Jr.'s scuffle with the police in 2005, when he was charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest.)

But don't count Huntsman out just yet. He has been invited to participate in tomorrow's GOP presidential debate, despite his bottom-of-the-pack polling numbers. And I think it's accurate to say that tomorrow will be, for many, the first encounter with Huntsman's unique ideas and remarkably eloquent diction.