Here's a thought: could Jon Huntsman be weighing a run as an Independent?

[CTyankee]

He seems to still be soldiering on and I wonder if this is in preparation to run in 2012 as a 3rd party alternative.

Does anyone else get this vibe here?

[northoftheborder]

1. Maybe. Interesting thought. The media hasn't thought of it - they only have single cell brains.

[onenote]

10. Or maybe in this case the media sees reality for what it is.

Huntsman is going nowhere.

[Ilsa]

2. He seems too conservative to run as an independent. Even Eric Erickson is

blogging that Huntsman is more cnservative than Mittens. They discussed it on Morning Joe today. But also said Huntsman's affiliation with the Obama administration will turn off some people.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. If he ran, who would he hurt most in the GE?

My concern is that he'd hurt Obama the most by siphoning off some Democratic votes though he would probably pull some votes from both directions (there are fewer moderates on the Republican side though). I doubt he would run as an Indy unless he thought he might win, which I doubt. As things stand right now, all he might do is play spoiler. I'm feeling better everyday about President Obama's chances for re-election next year but a moderate third-party candidate could end up throwing the election to the Republicans. Let's just hope he doesn't.

[GentryDixon]

4. Jon Huntsman is a fine man.

He was a good governor for Utah. He gave the conservatives heartburn, because he has a soul. Of all the Republican candidates, I would say he is the least toxic. But, that said, he is too moral to be a serious candidate for the Republicans.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

5. They intimated on Hardball that he might actually be in there ONLY

to diminished Mittens favorability.

I actually think this is an interesting thought -- for an opposing party to infiltrate the other party's primary with no thoughts whatsoever about actually winning - but only to knock down the other party's ultimate opponent.

[CTyankee]

12. Actually, this ain't my original thought...a family member who is a political consultant

brought it up to me at dinner last night. I asked him if this was something he had an inside information on. He laughed and said "no, you heard it here first." I asked him why he thought this and he said he noticed Hunstman advancing his foreign policy ideas as if he is a viable Republican candidate and of course he ISN'T, so his guess was that since the guy has loads of his own money he might be positioning himself for an independent candidacy, figuring that his might just be his opportunity. My family member has pretty sharp political instincts but sometimes that can make you overthink things a bit and this might be the case with him. Anyway, I thought I would throw it out there for DU to chew on.

[Orangepeel]

6. Nah. It's preparation to run in 2016. n/t

[grantcart]

7. Right

If they coalesce against Romney with a nutjob they will need Huntsman to balance the ticket.

Puts him first in line for 2016, where he can fight it out with Jeb Bush.

[jenmito]

8. Nope. If he doesn't win NH, he's done. n/t

[onenote]

9. Nope.

Huntsman isn't attracting the kind of money that would be needed for an Independent run. Heck, half of the money he's "raised" has simply been self-financing -- spending his own money. He's rich, but not rich enough to finance himself in a national presidential campaign.

[MilesColtrane]

11. He'll be lucky to stay afloat until the Iowa caucus.

His campaign has $300K of cash on hand and is in debt for about $3 million.

Simply putting an (I) after his name will do little to change that.

He simply has no money to continue.

[ecstatic]

13. No. I think he will be the next and final person to surge in the GOP race

I think tonight might be Jon's big chance to shine. Cain is done. Huntsman has to win Cain's folks over tonight and he will be the nominee. He's just as moderate as Romney, without the bad history (according to the GOP view).