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Huntsman Will Not Be the Next Secretary of State

Dan Drezner explains why we should care about this gossipy Politico story* about Jon Huntsman’s campaign chaos: First, I’d expect decent odds that Huntsman would be the secretary of state in any incoming GOP administration (quick, name me an alternate candidate with sufficient gravitas). Even if he’s a sideshow to the current GOP nomination, he […]

Dan Drezner explains why we should care about this gossipy Politico story* about Jon Huntsman’s campaign chaos:

First, I’d expect decent odds that Huntsman would be the secretary of state in any incoming GOP administration (quick, name me an alternate candidate with sufficient gravitas). Even if he’s a sideshow to the current GOP nomination, he wouldn’t be if a Republican won in 2012.

Let me stop him right there. There are quite a few alternative candidates. The first name that springs to mind is Richard Lugar. If the next Republican President thought that Lugar was too much of a realist and too close to Obama, there would have to be some retiring Senators or former Bush administration officials who would be much higher on the list than Huntsman. I’m not saying this because Huntsman would be a bad choice for Secretary of State. Quite the opposite. I just don’t see how someone goes from serving in the Obama administration to being the Secretary of State for a Republican President who will have been running as someone far more hawkish and aggressive than Obama. Assuming the Republican nominee wins next year, the main obstacle to Huntsman’s receiving the nomination for State would be that his foreign policy views are generally much more sensible than the views of any of the likely nominees.

If Romney is the nominee, as I expect he will be, and he somehow manages to win, Huntsman’s chances are even worse, because the two have had a long-running and increasingly bitter rivalry. Huntsman’s presidential campaign has been just the latest installment in their feud. Huntsman’s campaign strategy is in direct competition with Romney’s in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and he seems to be targeting moderate Republican voters that Romney will need to head off a challenge from the right. As long as Huntsman’s candidacy remains marginal, this won’t undermine Romney very much, but it is hardly going to win Huntsman any favors.

* Is there any other kind?

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