No, I’m not saying Kyl is flaking out of the Senate. This may be Jim Geraghty’s territory, but I’m hoping Jeff Flake will be his successor. I’ll personally launch the Draft Flake campaign.
Meanwhile, I’m still pondering the possible presidential candidacy of former Utah governor Jon Huntsman. Several years ago I saw Huntsman, still in office at the time, speak to a small group of well-heeled Republican donors out at Pebble Beach. I wondered what got a Utah governor to come to a California gathering like this, and his very impressive speech (too impressive in some ways, as in overly polished) suggested one obvious conclusion: This man wants to run for president. He hit a lot of the right notes (especially school choice), but I was skeptical, as I knew he had been a huge enthusiast in the late 1990s for “smart growth,” the elitist-enviro cause-of-the-day at that time. Later he embraced cap-and-trade. Hmm.
When he took the job as Obama’s ambassador to China I figured he had dropped his presidential ambition, or mistakenly figured Obama was a two-term lock. Now it appears he’d changed his mind, as Obama looks vulnerable. Or maybe he wants to play spoiler against Romney? I wonder if there is some history between them, perhaps going back to the Olympics. Some enterprising journalists should start digging around.