Really? I do. Just as Trump, Bachmann, Perry and Cain got to the front, only to make unrecoverable errors and lose all momentum (in several cases dropping out) so too will Newt likely put his foot in it.
At which point the "anybody but Romney" crowd, led by Free Republic will look around to see who else is left to be the Anti-Mitt, and there sitting pretty will be Huntsman.
I'm not saying it WILL happen that way, but it's at least possible. He might as well hang in for a bit.
I don't think I'd count on that. There seems to me as much hostility directed at Huntsman on Free Republic as there is at Romney. It's not as readily apparent because there are way fewer Huntsman thread and it's kind of pointless to take shots at the guy in last place. But, do a search of Huntsman threads for the last six months. I think many actually consider Huntsman to the left of Romney, and may even support Romney over Huntsman or (more likely) vote third party before voting for either.
I don’t get that impression. First, it’s 100% totally off-base. Romney’s record and platform are clearly to the left of Huntsman. That’s the objective truth - not debatable. Huntsman has ALWAYS been 100% pro-life and 100% pro-gun - two issues that Romney has been on the Dem side for the first half of his political career - and those are two hot-button issues for FReepers.
Second even if it is true (and I don’t think it is), hostility towards a candidate has never cost him the nomination. There was a TON of hostility directed toward John McCain last year - at least as much as Romney - and yet he went on to win the nomination because it was a subpar, flawed field of candidates. Huntsman is a FAR better candidate than McCain was, and better than Mitt & Newt are now.
McCain got the nomination, anything can happen.