Huntsman Pins Presidential Hopes On NH
MANCHESTER, NH (CBS) - While the Republican field campaigns in Iowa, only one major candidate is spending the entire week in New Hampshire.
Jon Huntsman will have nearly two dozen events in the Granite State over the New Years weekend.
He hopes more visits will equal more votes. That's the formula on which Huntsman is basing his presidential hopes.
"In New Hampshire particularly, it's the grassroots politicking that wins it in the end."
Huntsman has focused solely on New Hampshire. He's moved up in the polls and is now running between 10 and 13 percent, but hasn't had a true surge.
Some in his party question his conservative credentials because he worked as President Obama's ambassador to China.
WBZ-TV asked Huntsman why conservatives should give him a second look.
WBZ-TV New Hampshire Bureau Chief Lauren Leamanczyk reports
"All they have to take a look at my record," Huntsman said. "Pro-life, pro-second amendment, pro-growth, the largest tax cut delivered in the history of my state, health reform without a mandate."
He went on to mention his support for the Ryan plan and foreign policy experience.
Web Extra: Jon Huntsman Sits Down With WBZ-TV New Hampshire Bureau Chief Lauren Leamanczyk
As Huntsman tries to boost his poll numbers, he hasn't been shy about criticizing his rivals, especially Mitt Romney and most recently Ron Paul. He released a scathing web video Thursday using Paul's old newsletters against him.
"I'm not sure it's negativity. I think it's just facts out there on the record," Huntsman argues.
The attacks underscore Huntsman's most important argument, electability.
"You have to position yourself in a way that suggests you're electable," Huntsman says. "Once people see that you're electable and can go on and beat Barack Obama, as everyone knows I can do, the question is can he make it through the early primaries."
Huntsman believes New Hampshire can answer that question.
