January 10, 2012 08:57 PM UTC

Jon Huntsman's Last Stand?

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza reports:

Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman appears to be the momentum candidate in New Hampshire ahead of today’s Republican presidential primary vote.

Tracking polls conducted in the race show him moving up, he put in his best debate showing of the race thus far on Sunday, he’s up on television and he even won the endorsement of the Boston Globe in recent days.

The fight for second behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney now appears to be between Huntsman and Texas Rep. Ron Paul. So, Huntsman now seems set to overperform the (admittedly low) expectations for him in New Hampshire.

But can he turn a second- or third-place finish in the Granite State into any sort of momentum heading in South Carolina?

No, according to most seasoned Republican operatives who have spent considerable time working in Palmetto State politics…

It seems to us that former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, whom we’ve disclosed a bit of a regionalist soft spot for as well as admiration for holding to a (relatively) moderate message in a blood-red race to the right, really needs to beat Rep. Ron Paul–not to mention Rick Santorum–in order to compete effectively beyond tonight. If Huntsman can manage that, he could be strong enough to take his campaign beyond the freakishly unrepresentative right-wing South Carolina bloodbath and into Florida–and beyond, if he can own the next slot as the “Romney alternative.”

It’s a small window we admit, but it might possibly be fortuitous to be the last such “alternative.”