'The hunt is on,' says Huntsman
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China Daily via Agencies, January 12, 2012
Former US envoy to China Jon Huntsman's presidential campaign won a reprieve on Tuesday as he battled to third place in New Hampshire, but he remains a long-shot challenger to frontrunner Mitt Romney.
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Former US envoy to China Jon Huntsman's presidential campaign won a reprieve on Jan. 10, 2012, as he battled to third place in New Hampshire, but he remains a long-shot challenger to frontrunner Mitt Romney. |
"Ladies and gentlemen, I think we're in the hunt," Huntsman told supporters as with 84 percent of the ballots counted he had harnessed 17 percent of the vote.
"I'd say third place is a ticket to ride," he added, vowing his campaign would now move on to the next vote less than two weeks away in South Carolina.
The former Utah governor, scion of one of America's richest families, saw his support rise steadily in the final days before the primary and a surprisingly strong finish could give him a much-needed boost.
Huntsman skipped Iowa's caucus last week and bet his presidential fortunes on a strong showing here, going forward to the next contest in South Carolina on Jan 21 and Florida on Jan 31.
He has been playing up his cross-party appeal, telling NBC that "in order to beat Barack Obama, the bottom line ... is you've actually got to convince some people who voted for Barack Obama last time to vote for you.
"That's just the mathematical reality," said Huntsman, who held more than 170 rallies, town hall meetings and other events in New Hampshire over the past few months, with his wife Mary Kaye often his strongest advocate.
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