huntsman along with former u.s. secretary of state henry kissinger was asked by harry evans to give his view on china's rise on the global state. huntsman says china is on the global stage bubuis learning how to handle it. >> the question now becomes, are they ready to lead on the world stage? and i think there's a lag there. they'll figure it out, but i think there's probably three to five years during which they will have to come to grips with what it to be on the world stage. >> question, jon huntsman served as ambassador during that service china backtracked on human rights. will that hurt huntsman on the campaign trail? >> i'm sure that's just a small excerpt but what is he talking about? this is a great dramatic, dynamic power which is working the world international order. we establish for its own benefit. >> you were there. i was there. i was there. you brawl huntsman says? >> yes i do. china has played a role that is a narrower role in terms of the world stage, okay? there's no doubt they're greg that direc

people here were fascinated with huntsman.e's a fluent chinese speaker because of his time in asia as a mormon missionary. he also has an adopted daughter from china and he presented himself in a down-to-earth way. he could often be seen riding his bicycle around his residential compound. this is a very atypical of diplomats. and in fact, a very local thing to do. and he also really endaerd himself to people because he outreached a lot, not only to college student bs but also to e blogger community. people thought that they could relate to him, that they were connected to him. and he was very popular. on the other hand, though, at the end of his tenure, his popularity took a little bit of a hit because of his attendance at an anti-government rally. that was caught on tape. and there were a lot of questions about it here. but at the end of his stay, the government did say that he was and still is a friend of china. >> the president visited china and actually met with ambassador huntsman in september 2009. prior to that trip, ac

john huntsman. >> thank you. i'm john huntsman, and i am humbled.or of the great state of utah. i have been a businessman, and i have been a diplomat. i am the husband of the love of my life, the greatest human being i have ever known, mary kate, for 28 years. i am the father of seven terrific kids. i am the son of great parents. who are here with me today celebrating a very important anniversary, including a birthday. i am from the american west where the view of america is limitless with lots of blue sky. i have lived overseas four times where the view of america from 10,000 miles away is a picture of liberty, opportunity, and justice. people secure in their rights and in love with their liberty. people who have done more good for more people than any other nation on earth. and today, i am a candidate for the office of president of the united states of america. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. my kids can't believe i just said that. and i am asking for the greatest privilege americans can bestow on a fellow citizen, and you're entitled to kno

we went hunting for someone who knows jon huntsman. who is jon huntsman?dea. >> no idea. >> good question. >> oh, i don't know. >> reporter: does this help at all? >> no. >> no. >> no. >> running for president? jn di >> reporter: ding, ding, ding. >> is he running for the republican american. >> reporter: you're australian and you know more. >> we do, actually. and we're proud of it. >> they didn't know this guy either. >> reporter: at least huntsman is easy to pronounce, but if you google it, look what comes up about the huntsman spider. at least its bite isn't considered dangerous. american comedians have a duty to introduce this latest candidate to the public. >> former utah governor jon huntsman is running. >> reporter: we'll get to know jon huntsman become a recurring bit? >> there's actually no reason to get to know jon huntsman. this has been get to know jon huntsman. >> reporter: conan's helping, too. >> there's a picture of him right there. looks like he's interrupting a lunch competition. couldn't help but overhear.

other than to get a little buzz. >> reporter: huntsman has seven children. two of them adopted, one from bangladesh and one from china. he is raising his youngest daughter her native hindu. and he is mormon. he joined mitt romney in a republican primary field that now what two mormons. it's one of the fastest growing religions in america. 15 members of congress are mormon. including the leader of the senate. and huntsman predicts, as a political issue, his religion will be irrelevant. >> i don't think people see it through religious prism. i think they look at any of the candidates and say, where are they going what do they stand for what are they going to do with this country? >> reporter: but these days, pop come sure is bombarding the country with stereotypes. there's the award-winning musical "the book of mormon." ♪ i believe ♪ that god is on a planet called ♪ ♪ i believe ♪ that jesus has his own planet as well ♪ >> reporter: there's the popular tlc reality show "sister wives." >> i think there's room for everybody. >> reporter: and its hbo dramatic equi

is huntsman able to do that, do you think? >> i don't know.w him at some house parties this week, he'd talk for 30 minutes and never mention president obama by name or attack him. no other candidate is taking that approach in this race and his campaign they think that's going to make him different, stand out, make him seem a little bit more reasonable and measured but it's unclear that's what republican primary voters want in a nominee this year. >> what about romney in iowa, mitt romney, former governor of massachusetts spent $10 million or something in iowa and got last time around and got very little to show for it in terms of either the straw poll or the caucus results. now he's saying, i'm not doing the iowa caucuses, they're not important. they were quite important last time around. this time around not important. does that hurt him? >> he's playing the expectations game in iowa. he's going to stay out of the straw poll. he could in the end do moderately well even with not really playing in it. i think there's a chance and i think his ca

but i think governor huntsman is making a different bet.on't think it is about being a moderate, it is about being steadfast and constant. the idea that governor pawlenty and romney are seen as fairly moderate governors, particularly romney in massachusetts, roaring to the right wing of the republican party, trying to get approval of activist base of the party, huntsman holding out as someone that's not going to shape shift because the politics are expedient. he thinks there's a market for authenticity in the republican field. >> what's his vision? >> that's an excellent question. if you get him on, you should ask him. >> i will. >> i heard the speech today and i found myself wondering, i was confused about a couple of things. i notice in new hampshire, there's talk about the tactic, path to the nomination. heard this many times today, on the way overheard it on the radio, what's his path to the nomination. there are a lot of paths to the nomination. first thing you need to think about in terms of a presidential candidate, what's your argum

a fact that could hurt huntsman with the gop base. >> i think it's going to be very tough for john huntsman to actually define who he is. and if he tries to go too far to the right and beat up on barack obama, you know, is he going to look disloyal, and will voters believe it? >> reporter: huntsman was raised mormon like mitt romney, the perceived front-runner among republicans. in a new gallup poll, one in five americans said they would not vote for a norman for president. when asked about the polls, romney said the election will come down to the economy. >> my guess is people are going to make their decision as to who to vote for on the person they think will get americans jobs again. >> reporter: huntsman's expected to announce his candidacy later today. that makes nine republicans running for president. and there are still some big names on the fence. former new york city mayor rudy giuliani and former alaska governor sarah palin have yet to decide. and an adviser to rick perry says the texas governor is 50/50 on making a run for the white house. >> let's stop this american downward spi

, which brings us to andrea mitchell and another one joins the fray. >> jon huntsman is harley-loving mormon, a former utah governor who is modeling his campaign on ronald reagan's but his kickoff didn't go quite as he expected. >> i'm jon huntsman and i'm running for president of the united states, thank you all. >> reporter: until recently, president obama's ambassador to china. father of seven, including two adopted children. son of a billionaire. hoping to become the alternative to presume front-runner mitt romney, also a mormon. >> he's pro-life, pro-gun, pro-business, pro- civil unions and pro immigration, it's an interesting mix and people are ready for something different. >> reporter: with the statue of liberty behind him he channelled ronald reagan's 1980's campaign without the polish. before he was introduced a faulty sound system. >> we just came from new york where we announced in front of the statue of liberty -- >> reporter: except he wasn't in new york, it was new jersey. in a tumultuous tea party area he appealed for old-fashioned civility. >> but the question each of

>> you heard sununu, he was brutal about huntsman.a, he's a democrat, i only vote for republicans. is it that deep, that we assume conservatives don't like anything to do with president obama. they really want someone to go out there and beat on the president's policies. is huntman able to do that, do you think? >> i don't know. you know, we saw him at some house parties this week, and he would talk for about 30 minutes and never even mention president obama by name or attack him. no other candidate is taking that approach in this race. you know, his campaign, they think it's going to work out and make him stand out and make him seem more measured. that's really what republican primary voters want in a nominee this year. >> what about romney in iowa. mitt romney, former governor of massachusetts, spent $10 million or something in iowa last time around and got very little to show for it in terms of either the straw poll or the caucus results. now he's saying i'm not doing the iowa caucuses. they're not important. they were quite import

not jon huntsman but supposeded to see voc jon huntsman as a risk taking guy.ep ad out in california during that race and the i'm not a witch ad in delaware for christine o'donnell. huntsman is trying to take an unconventional approach here and see if it pans out for him. it's really a big open question. he is vying to be the guy who can take down mitt romney in this republican battlefield but, at this point, it's just a big question mark whether he can pull it off. guys? >> jim acosta, many thanks. >> >>> a 19-year-old is arrested in connection with the security breach at sony. police say the teen may have hacked into a number of international businesses and intelligence agencies, including the cia. sony playstation's network went down in april after the personal information of more than 70 million users was compromised. >>> supreme court putting the brakes on a massive job discrimination lawsuit against walmart. at issue whether hundreds of thousands of female employees could make a unified claim they were paid less and fewer opportunities for a promotion. th

i'm jon huntsman.for president of the united states. >> one more elbows his way into the republican rumble for the 2012 presidential nomination. former utah governor jon huntsman, a motorcycle riding mormon with seven children who speaks fluent mandarin announced his presidential campaign today. huntsman has served both republican and democratic presidents. until january, he was president obama's ambassador to china. huntsman's entry means there are now nine official republican presidential candidates. you can see them here. they are from congresswoman michele bachmann to rick santorum. >>> president obama is outlining his plan to begin withdrawing u.s. troops from afghanistan. that is going to happen tomorrow night. an administration officials says the president will announce that all 30,000 surge troops he sent to afghanistan last year will come home by the end of 2012. already the administration is worried that afghanistan's flourishing opium trade will help the taliban fund a comeback. >> we grow p

>> well, i don't use labels of any kind. >> reporter: not long before he became ambassador, huntsman was asked about congressional republicans, and i said, i don listen or read to what they say, because it is inconsequential. that was john boehner you were talking about. >> we learned some important lessons from that. i think the party and party leadership, i think they've gotten the message loud and clear and they stepping up to the plate. >> reporter: feared or not, huntsman is a long shot. you think you can win? >> of course. >> reporter: 1%, you got a long ways to go. >> hey, listen, i like our chances. >> reporter: huntsman is beginning his campaign with a sprint. over the next week, he will make 18 stops in 15 different cities. he has a lot of ground to make up, diane, and he knows it. >> reporter: all right, jon, thanks to you. and john huntsman will make one of those stops on "good morning america" tomorrow. >>> tonight, half a world away, first lady michelle obama and her daughters transformed a schoolhouse in south africa into a "cat in the hat" poets corner. >> to hot to g

i'm guessing jon huntsman or tim pawlenty would face the same tampa crowd. the nomination goes to a tea party favorite, michele bachmann or possibly texas governor rick perry. they would turn the heat up certainly at that convention, like palin did the last time. look at palin and what she did to make it rock. >> thank you so much. chris: it's an interesting thing and it will always be a blend of some kind. when you and i cover all these years, and it's been a long time, as you're about to make this transition. but i'm thinking heart and mind. people in politics are obviously moved by their mind. i want less government, less taxes. you have a deep intellectual commitment. but out's hard. who do they get in love with? let's try romney and huntsman. >> i think there's a real question about that. there's a real excitement deficit on the republican side with these establishment republicans. there's not a lot of passion, i think is the word that you were using for pawlenty or romney. that's why they love bachmann and that's why john mccain chose sarah palin for t

one thing about jon huntsman. he looks like a choirboy and everything else, but given the campaign he has put together and a number of fundraisers he has organized, this has been going on for quite awhile. this was not a last-minute decision on his part. it was a pretty well organized effort. >> how does he win the nomination? is he to moderate? >> he is too moderate. but i heard -- there was a three this week about how he might have a road. there are a lot of moderate to conservative republicans who feel very shut out by their party at the moment. there is not a candidate for those people. on the conservative side, everybody is fighting for a piece of that pinata, but if all those people divide up the boat and constant is the one who can corner the market on the more -- the vote and huntsman is the one who can corner the more moderate voters, he has a shot at least it being one of the last two contenders. the problem is, if you get one conservative and one moderate, i don't see how he wins. >> can he win the nomi

how conservative and how moderate is jon huntsman and how does this shake up the rest of it with huntsman to his left, does this make the world safe for mitt romney? >> well, that's the thing. they are running in the same lane in some ways. but of course jon huntsman fancies himself as being the guy on the dirt bike. going to the desert. but that's -- that's the question. gwen: that was the video he released over days, a guy on a dirt bike riding nowhere apparently. and they said here he comes. and at the end it wasn't even huntsman on the dirt bike. >> it wasn't him. >> but a prop. >> i am not mitt romney. >> his campaign fancies him as the cooler version of mitt romney. you see him on his dirt bike and likes to eat fast food and a tough dude. gwen: tough to be cooler than mitt romney. looking at this field right now, the way it's shaping up, who are the democrats worried about? >> i think the democrats are obviously worried about huntsman. they are still in the middle of doing opposition research on this guy. because he's new to the field. and i think they are more worried about romney

only problem is, huntsman has a face and a name.nd right now, obama leads all specific republican candidates in the polls, even beating the romney. thankfully, the republicans have a dark horse. >> the latest gallup poll has president obama narrowly losing to a generic republican. >> president obama falling behind a generic republican challenger into a new poll 39% to 44%. >> republicans lead by a few points on the generic presidential ballot. a generic republican, if you find that person, beating president obama. >> stephen: guess what? i found that person on my way to work this morning. [laughter] republican party, say hello to your generic presidential nominee. look at this guy. [laughter] he's got everything you want. strong stride, well known, plus he's a family man. as you can see from the briefcase, he's got business experience. but he's also worked blue-collar jobs. this guy has something for everybody. he's well-read. he's outdoorsy. and he loves the flag. or rectangles. and he's got a very compelling personal story. he was

the huntsman spider.ans have a duty to introduce this latest candidate to the public. >> former utah governor jon huntsman is running. >> reporter: geel get to know jon huntsman become a recurring bit? >> there's actually no reason to get to know jon huntsman. this has been get to know jon huntsman. >> reporter: conan is helping, too. >> there's a picture of him. it looks like he's interrupting a lunch conversation. couldn't help but overhear. >> reporter: huntsman's already been mistaken for somebody else. >> the shirtless twitter guy? >> reporter: actually it was craigslist but there was a certain resemblance and we advice this relative unknown not to become overexposed. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >>> it's 10 a.m. on the east coast, 7 a.m. out west. thanks for joining us. in north dakota, about 12,000 people are being ordered to evacuate the town of minot. rising river wards are expected to swallow most of that town. >>> defense attorneys for casey anthony presenting their case but prosecutors are stea

. >> pelley: does the name jon huntsman ring a bell? that's the first problem huntsman will have to overcome after he joined the race for the the republican presidential nomination today. but even if you never heard of him, president obama knows him very well, and nancy cordes tells us, he'd prefer not to run against him. >> i'm john huntsman and i'm running for president of the united states. thank you, all. >> reporter: he may not be the best-known candidate but former utah governor john huntsman still makes the white house nervous. so nervous, they named him ambassador to china two years ago, hoping he might drop any plans to run for president. >> i know that john is the kind of leader who always puts country ahead of party. >> reporter: no such luck. today, huntsman announced his bid, standing before the statue of liberty. >> we will conduct this campaign on the high road. >> reporter: then changed into a checkered shirt and headed to new hampshire. >> when i was governor, we cut taxes. we flattened rates. we balanced the budget. >>

is there a sweet spot for someone like john jon huntsman? >> maybe. you can see the way he's approaching it and you would like to highlight those issues. he's not going to iowa and not compete in iowa. he claims he's opposed and he can't get through iowa. the caucus growing electorate is more conservative part of the republican party. he's going administrate to new hampshire where npts inents can also vote. moving on to south carolina maybe building an organization there and a big state like florida where he absorbedded a middle of the road not as well. he could be on his way to nomination. >> are he and mitt wrong knee are mormons, of the mormon faith, that would be a first, is that something which we have any evidence the americans are ready for that big a change. >> a gallop poll out just in the last couple days shows one in every five americans, 20% say that they would not support a nominee of their party who is a mormon. but the vast majority is fine. in fact, we've seen those numbers get smaller, those that actually would not vote for someone be

romney joined today by the former utah governor, the former ambassador to china, john huntsman.ith the statue of liberty behind his shoulder republican john huntsman made it official. >> i'm a candidate for office of the president of the united states of america. the former u.s. governor is still larmly unknown. today huntsman declared will control -- conduct his campaign on the highway. >> i respect the president of the u.s we have a difference of opinion on how to help a country we both love. >> two months ago president obama named huntsman to the critical post. at that time he said it would be easy to explain why he chose a republican, the co-chair of senator mccain's campaign. >> john has shown a willingness to move beyond old ideologies and stale debates that often bring progress to a stand still. >> pry mary voters are looking for a candidate that is going to punch their opponent in the face. >> in the latest poll, huntsman trails the president by 10 points in a head to head match up and garners only 1% support among republican fields. and the obama administration taking t

manuel gallegus reports. >> reporter: former utah governor and diplomat jon huntsman told a crowd at liberty state park he wants to turn america around. >> i'm jon huntsman and running for the president of the united states. >> reporter: huntsman and his family made stops in new jersey and new york thursday, promising tax reform and job creation. >> for most american families there is nothing more important than a job. >> reporter: huntsman's last job was at president obama's ambassador to china but he's carefully distancing himself from his former boss. >> he and i have a difference on how to run the country we both love. >> he's intelligent. >> if he can get past the primary the independents i think would find a lot of his positions attractive. >> reporter: huntsman joins a still evolving field of gop contenders. some big name republicans have yet to decide whether they're going to run and one candidate may have trouble staying in the race. newt gingrich's top fund-raisers quit tuesday, following the mass exodus of his aides. >> i'm not going to talk to you about campaign stuff. >>

so how does jon huntsman fix that?t of all, it's name i.d. 71% of republicans are unsure about him because they're not really sure who he is, right? and so he's got to introduce himself to republican primary voters, which he's going to try and do. but also, his strategy here really, randi, is the sense that he can appear to a broader swath of the republican electorate. you know, in the 2010 mid-terms we saw really conservative tea party voters come out. his strategist that i talked to bet that people voting in the primaries again want to win, particularly in a state like new hampshire, where independent voters can vote in a republican primary. for the first time since 1996 there's no democrat running. so say, they turn out in the republican primary. they believe that those are the voters that will be attracted to a jon huntsman. >> and just real quickly, gloria, how does he explain that he worked for the obama administration and as the obama administration says supported many of president obama's policies? >> yeah. i w

you think democrats will be rough on huntsman?hat jon huntsman has weaknesses on some substantive issues, but the fact that he served in a democratic administration makes him a little tough in a republican primary and he understands that himself. >> you act like it's a non-starter. >> he fawned over obama to the point that he sounded like he should have been on msnbc. >> reporter: in political world, bipartisanship is nice in rhetoric. it can be darn toxic in a primary season. candy crowley, cnn, washington. >> in the days leading up to tomorrow's official announcement of his candidacy, jon huntsman has released a series of, shall we say, interesting ads. watch this. ♪ >> the candidate for president who rides, did you see those? let's discuss what's going on with our chief political analyst gloria borger. these ads are, shall we say, misleading. >> well, it's not huntsman. >> i thought when i saw the ad it was jon huntsman on that motorcycle. >> of course you did. he rides mote cross, but i'm told it's a friend of his actually rid

we went hunting for someone who knows jon huntsman. who is jon huntsman?reporter: jon huntsman? >> no idea. >> no idea. >> good question. >> don't know. >> reporter: does this help at all? >> no. >> no. >> no. >> for president? he's running for president. >> reporter: ding ding ding. >> is he running for the republican party? >> reporter: you're from australia? you know more than americans. >> we do, actually, and we're proud of it. >> reporter: but there was a day when people didn't know this guy either. >> barrack. >> never heard of him. >> reporter: if you google it on google images look what comes up. the huntsman spider. at least its bite isn't considered dangerous. american comedians have a duty to introduce this latest candidate to the public. >> former utah governor jon huntsman is running. >> reporter: we'll get to know jon huntsman become a recurring bit? >> there's actually no reason to get to know jon huntsman. this has been get to know jon huntsman. >> reporter: conan is helping, too. >> there's a picture of him. it looks like he's interruptin

can huntsman effectively separate himself from his old boss? >> that is the question for huntsman. also look at his record as governor of utah. he has a loyalist demeanor with president obama, trying to emphasize that. you have to look at his record. it will be very tough for jon huntsman to define who he is. if he tries to go too far to the right and beat up on barack obama, is he going to look disloyal? and will voters believe it? will it seem real if he starts running as some type of far right conservative? he we saw that when mitt romney n er please stand by for realtime captions. please stand by for realtime captions. ght it it h him, in fact in 2008. >> is that the question ron, at this point? has this really come together? are they staking out their positions to what we're going to see in the election here? huntsman is closer to the center and rick perry who, at this point, does not seem interested in being inclusive. >> we're in that point in the campaign. it happens every cycle when the party out of power is dissatisfied with their field. it's hard to see anybody this earl

john huntsman. i had no idea.ere's much to do about the backdrop with lady liberty behind him. you tell me, not exactly the smoothest. what are people saying there? >> a lot of little stuff. many candidate go through this at different levels. it's sort of like, john huntsman, welcome to the nfl. he's intelligent and picked a great place for his announcement and some were saying that the speech was uninspiring and the answer is get used to it. he's honestly just not known as the kind of orator who brings down the house. people who know him know that. >> okay, but then there is this other glitch. someone spelled his first name wrong on the press passes? really? that's a little embarrassing. >> j-o-n. his first name has no "h" in it. the person who ordered the press passes didn't know that. how do you get the candidate's name spelled wrong coming right out of the blocks? >> not only that, they sent the media covering the announcement to saudi arabia? >> there are a lot of politicians who would like to send their medi

huntsman begins trying to change that at a rally in new hampshire later today.anuel gallegus, cbs news, jersey city, new jersey. >>> and just days after the first gop primary debate in new hampshire, republican front- runner mitt romney is now in california hoping to raise some serious cash. his three-day swing will include a luncheon in sacramento and barbecue in portola valley cofounder of sun microsystems. the cost is $1,000 to $10,000 to attend the barbecue. good barbecue there. >>> calling it quits, two key fundraisers are leaving newt gingrich and weakening his efforts to run for president. the former speaker of the house has been struggling to raise money for his campaign while facing steep travel costs. early this month, 16 top aides and advisors left the former speaker's campaign leaving some speculating about whether his campaign will survive. >>> coming up, the royals are arrive. the just -- ar arriving. the new schedule of the duke and duchess of cambridge just released. >>> it's getting hot around the bay area. where you might be able to beat the he

huntsman makes it official this morning. a lot of people including the obama administration talking about how he can give obama a real run for the money in the general election but before he can take on obama he has to win the republican primary and that may be a challenge. in light of some of his past positions. he has worked for presidents ronald reagan, george h.w. bush and george w. bush but jon huntsman tied to another president that has many republicans questioning his gop credentials. president barack obama. >> so i'm extraordinarily pleased to announce that jon huntsman will be our ambassador to china. >> reporter: huntsman left his second term as utah's governor to serve for more than a year and a half as mr. obama's ambassador to china. now, huntsman will have to contend with the political fallout of letters like this from 2009 when he called the president a remarkable leader. skeptical republicans are also worried about huntsman's conservative bona fide on social issues as governor huntsman seemed open to health c

i mean do you think i got a riding the bike is jon huntsman it's not actually though the guy who made the commercial same guy behind demon sheep. you know it could get it could go in a really rigorous you think creating demon she just totally blew his mind and you know the longer function and was like yes this looks here's that maybe he's just trying to tone it down out of fairly that he's a he's a star now after da vinci and everybody wants to work with him but maybe this one is going to ruin that career let's move on to something else apple is now trying to develop this software and this just sounds really crazy to me i have no idea how this is going to work but essentially they want develop a software that makes it so that if you're at a venue seeing a concert there's going to be these infrared sensors at the venue had to take it upon themselves to install and so then if these sensors interact with your phone and your phone feels that you're trying to take an illegal video and make your concert going experience even though you didn't take it to go see a minute that it shuts off the

knew that left me asking jon huntsman are you samus at all i know you told me that you're not famous for being in the band wizard. but i was unaware that you were famous at all i'm pretty sure my friends at home don't know who you are obviously he's trying to rub off some of that you know i was the ambassador to china sheen so he wants to be all american again riding through the desert but he's a living is there an alternate reality game that goes with this are we going to be . uncovering you know a special website it's different clue is going on maybe you know if you have a link to it on a pebble on the pan so it's really a campaign or maybe a commercial for a motorcycle and has nothing to do with jon huntsman i mean do you think the guy riding the bike is jon huntsman it's not actually though the guy who made the commercial same guy behind demon sheep. you know it could get it could go in a really weird direction you think that creating demon sheep just totally blew his mind and you could no longer function and was like yes this looks piers and that maybe he's just trying to tone i

you think democrats will be rough on huntsman, sample a republican?s on some substantive issues, but the fact that he served in a democratic administration makes it a little tough in a republican primary, and he understands that himself. >> reporter: but you're acting like it's a nonstarter. >> he fawned over obama to the point where he sounded like he should have been on msnbc. >> reporter: in a political world, bipartisanship is nice in rhetoric. it can be darn toxic in the primary season. candy crowley, cnn, washington. >> and now to wolf blitzer with a look at what you and the sit room team are working on for your show today. wolf, what do you have coming up? >>> we've got a lot more coming up on jon huntsman, who's going to announce tomorrow. from the statue of liberty behind him, that he wants to be president of the united states. the pros and cons, what he brings to the equation. we're going in depth on that. and a lot more coming up on what's going on in libya, syria right now. we're getting a lot more information about syria and iran, what ir

the message is certainly obscure. >> i would say at this point he -- huntsman is in a category, if heould get through would be a difficult candidate for obama to face. >> and you can tell the obama administration is taking huntsman's candidacy seriously. the administration issued a statement saying the governor is relying on the same failed economic policies of the bush administration. >> the u.s. senate confirmed former monterey congress man leon pin netta as the next secretary of defense. south carolina republican lindsay gram called him a home grown choice and in a statement he said, quote, i pledge to the nation i will work to ensure we continue to have the strongest, best trained and equipped military in the weefrld. he will take over at the pentagon for robert gates, retiring at the end of the month. >> president obama is expected to announce withdrawal of 10,000 troops from afghanistan. according to a defense department source will bring about 5,000 troops home this summer and another 5,000 by the end of the year. president obama is also weighing a timetable for endinging the s