Jon Huntsman Considering Independent Presidential Bid in 2016

BuzzFeed is reporting this evening that former Utah Governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is testing the waters for another run in 2016.  This time, possibly mounting an independent campaign that would allow him to by-pass the very socially conservative GOP primary electorate and take his message to the directly into the general election.

BuzzFeed says several sources close to Huntsman have confirmed that he is considering the race.

Huntsman struggled as a Republican in 2012.  He largely ignored the Iowa Caucuses, winning less than 1% of the vote in that state.  Pinning all of his hopes on a win or strong showing in the New Hampshire primary, Huntsman pulled the plug on his campaign days after finishing third and winning 17% of the vote in the Granite State.

Huntsman appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe in February of 2012, stirring up talk of a possible independent campaign that year.

“I think we’re going to have problems politically until we get some sort of third party movement or some voice out there that can put forth new ideas,” Huntsman said during his appearance on Morning Joe. “Someone’s going to step up at some point and say we’ve had enough of this. The real issues are not being addressed and it’s time that we put forward an alternative vision, a bold thinking. We might not win, but we can certainly influence the debate.”

More from the BuzzFeed report:

Before he quit the race, Huntsman considered going independent twice, once in the summer and again in the fall of 2011, according to a senior member of his campaign staff. Huntsman considered taking advantage of the infrastructure set up by Americans Elect, a nonprofit group that hoped to elect a third-party candidate, but his campaign ultimately dismissed the idea as unrealistic.

Those deliberations were detailed in part in the book, Double Down: Game Change 2012, which outlines a call from Huntsman to his campaign manager after a September debate in Tampa, Fla. “I want to go independent,” Huntsman reportedly said. “I think we should do it sooner rather than later.”

Since the election, Huntsman has co-chaired a coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and independents called “No Labels.” He also serves as chairman of the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. The 54-year-old former governor was most recently the U.S. ambassador to China during President Obama’s first term.