Jon Huntsman has been one of the biggest critics of Mitt Romney during the 2012 campaign. But his low poll numbers show those salvos really aren't doing much to influence voters.
National Review looks at Huntsman's hits against Romney. They say he may be using the wrong medium to get his message out.
New Hampshire voters simply aren’t influenced by — or even aware of — Huntsman’s attacks against Romney, say Granite State political insiders. Veteran New Hampshire GOP strategist Pat Griffin cites the campaign’s reliance on Web videos, rather than TV ads, as one reason his attacks have gotten no traction. Griffin suspects that people who watch Web videos tend to already be supporting a candidate. “I don’t think you change a lot of minds with those Web videos.”
By and large, the Romney campaign simply ignores the attacks. They’ve issued no response to Huntsman’s debate challenge. Except for announcing that former Huntsman campaign manager Susie Wiles was now backing Romney, there has been virtually no indication from the Romney campaign that they have ever heard of Jon Huntsman.
New Hampshire GOP strategist Jamie Burnett highlights another factor explaining why the Huntsman criticisms don’t seem to be resonating among voters. Since Romney’s two campaigns mean that he has been running for president for six years, Burnett observes, “there isn’t anything about him that New Hampshire voters don’t already know.”
“For Huntsman to come out and, whatever the allegations, whatever the attacks, to say, ‘Oh, he’s a flip-flopper on this issue’” is futile, Burnett adds. “Everyone’s known that for four years. And to say that oh, well, ‘He’s done x, or y, or z.’ They know that, and they’ve known it all along. They know what his liabilities are, and they know what his strengths are.”

