LEBANON, N.H. – Bucking the rest of the GOP presidential field, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman barnstormed around New Hampshire on Tuesday, having Granite State voters all to himself ahead of a stampede of primary opponents who will begin shortly after Iowa chooses a caucus winner tonight.
Huntsman, the only candidate not competing in Iowa, told a crowd of hospital employees here that he believes he is gaining momentum and can win the state’s Jan. 10 primary, pointing out that he has placed third in a new poll, edging ahead of former frontrunner Newt Gingrich.
“We are moving,” Huntsman told the crowd, who then peppered him with questions about health care reform and whether he would abolish reforms put in place by President Obama.
Huntsman pitched himself as a moderate, telling the crowd he would work with governors to find a way to reform health care while carefully avoiding an outright declaration that he would undo the reform law, as many of his GOP opponents have pledged.
“I’m not going to stand up here and shout “abolish Obamacare,'” he told the group.
Huntsman said he believed the nation could revive its sagging manufacturing industry because China, where he served as Obama’s, is experiencing a decline in economic growth that will create an opportunity for the United States. Huntsman said he would facilitate growth by lowering tax rates and broadening the tax base.
“I want to fire the engines of growth in this country,” Huntsman said. “There is no sense of where this country is going. There is no confidence.”
The stop in Lebanon was one of four appearances Huntsman planned for Tuesday, the final day before the state is saturated by an intense GOP campaign to win the nation’s first primary. His final stop today is in Peterborough, where he will hold an event with former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.
While all eyes today are focused on Iowa, Huntsman has discounted the Hawkeye State as a relevant player in choosing the nominee, pointing out that just a fraction of the state’s voters (around 120,0000) will turn out for the caucuses and that the 2008 winner, Mike Huckabee, went on to place fourth in New Hampshire.
Huntsman then went on to up the stakes for himself in the Granite State contest.
“I do believe New Hampshire is the leveling state,” he said. “This is where the order is going to be set in terms of the truly competitive candidate going forward.”
A new Suffolk University poll shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with a wide lead over the field, with 43 percent of the vote. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas., placed a distant second with just 17 percent of the vote. Huntsman and Gingrich were statistically tied with 9 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
The poll found 15 percent of voters still undecided just a week before they’re to make a choice, and it is from that pool that Huntsman will have to draw his support
“I remain an optimist as I move forward,” Huntsman said on Tuesday as he discussed his prospects and his desire to right the nation’s course if he becomes president. “I wouldn’t be doing this otherwise. You’d have to be crazy.”
