At the outset of this post, let me say I don’t think former Utah governor and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman will be the Republican nominee. But a lot of people have been asking why on Earth he’d even bother, given his prospects. Nobody can get inside any politician’s head to know what they’re really thinking, but here’s the closest thing I can imagine as a path to the nomination for Huntsman.

Right now, the field is incredibly unsettled. Mitt Romney is the closest thing to a frontrunner, yet his actual record was too liberal to beat John McCain in 2008, and now the base has only turned more forcefully against his signature legislative achivement — the Massachusetts health care plan. He’s been lucky, though, because the field consists of Tim Pawlenty and a group of candidates that fill various niches but are unlikely to win the nomination.