It seems so. Here's Politico:
The White House expects Jon Huntsman, the U.S. Ambassador to China, to resign his post this spring to explore a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, top Democrats said. GOP allies of Huntsman have already begun laying plans for a quick-start campaign should the former Utah governor decide to enter the ill-defined Republican field.
While Huntsman has no direct involvement in it, a group of operatives that could eventually comprise his strategy team has set up an entity called “Horizon PAC” to serve as a placeholder for his political apparatus.
This doesn't make any sense. Among potential Republican presidential candidates, Jon Huntsman is the least likely to find traction in 2012. Normally, obscurity isn't a huge problem -- John Edwards was virtually anonymous before 2004 -- but as another wealthy, Mormon businessman, he would have a hard time distinguishing himself from the presumptive front-runner, Mitt Romney. More important, he is a successful and reasonably prominent member of the Obama administration. On foreign policy, he obviously can't offer a serious contrast with Obama, and on social issues, he has something of a moderate reputation. He might have serious disagreements with the president on domestic policy, but -- again -- as a member of the Obama administration, he lacks credibility with the Republican base.
I can't imagine a scenario in which Huntsman is a plausible candidate for 2012. Under the current circumstances, he isn't conservative enough. And if the economy were stronger -- and Obama more popular -- he'd be wasting his time. That said, Huntsman remains great for a 2016 run; if the economy is strong, and Obama is popular, Huntsman could easily present himself as the moderate, Republican torchbearer for the president's legacy.
-- Jamelle Bouie
