On May 16th, Time asked former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, “Candidates always start out saying they’re going to run a positive campaign and bring people together, but in the end, they get convinced by their consultants that they have to go negative or lose. Why won’t that happen to you?”

Huntsman responded, “Campaigns are an extension of the candidate and the candidate’s family. People who want to personalize and lead with negatives, I disassociate myself from them. Politics has become a business; these advisers in Washington force candidates into alleyways from which there’s no return. But the American public in today’s world is dramatically in need of serious debate, and I don’t think they feel there’s a lot of bandwidth left for personal attacks.”