NORTH CONWAY, N.H. — Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman sounded like a full-fledged White House candidate Saturday set to join the Republican field this month as he mapped out a campaign strategy that bypasses early-voting Iowa to focus on New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.
In an interview during a visit to New Hampshire’s rural North Country, Huntsman said his party’s nomination race has “never been this wide open.” The unsettled nature, he said, benefits the kind of campaign he is preparing to undertake.
“That uncertainty is good,” he said. “It allows people to get in, assess, express their opinions, see whether their ideas rise or fall. . . . It’s unlike any other election cycle in recent history.”
He plans to skip a debate June 13 in New Hampshire; he said he won’t be an official candidate by then.
Iowa’s lead-off caucuses are out, he said, because of his opposition to subsidies for corn-based ethanol. Why waste time trying to court Iowa voters who see that support as a way of life and a deal-breaker, he said.
Look for him a lot in New Hampshire, where independent voters who can cast ballots in either party’s primary are the largest political bloc.
They twice rewarded Arizona Sen. John McCain in his presidential campaigns; many of Huntsman’s advisers are veterans of those runs.
Then it’s on to South Carolina, which is open to anyone, and then to Florida, which he called his “make-or- break state.”
