are we going to see now john huntsman, mitch daniels? does their stock rise as a result of this view of the republican field as, you know, at least in trump's case, wacky? >> no one really knows because the other thing that has been going on within the republican party itself is, you have to go back probably a half century to find the presidential election process at this stage with such an unsettled republican field where no candidate really registering very much in the polls and -- gwen: like we saw haley barbour drop out. >> haley barbour dropped out. he had been testing the waters in the very traditional sense and he said is he didn't feel the fire in his belly, which most people took to mean he didn't think there was much of a chance to win, but the field is very unsettled and someone like a donald trump who under normal circumstances where the party finds its candidate and begins the procession toward the core anition, donald trump couldn't have gotten the traction. but now people know his name, it's registering by the in the polls

the one potential candidate the white house is keeping their eye on is john huntsman. he comes back from china in a couple of months. gwen: he's the president's ambassador to china. a republican former governor of utah. >> they'll smother him with love. they'll see how that works. but they are agitated by him and i would say the white house is slightly preoccupied by him. gwen: somebody happened to leak some conservative online publications that he'd written all these nice letters about the president saying he was a remarkable leader, whichic i guess is what you say about your boss. >> the president could smother mitt romney with love on health care too. mitt romney signed the massachusetts health care bill that has some resemblances to the president's. gwen: from the democrats' point of view, not only in the white house but those who are not necessarily yolked to this president, is the idea of compromise good or dangerous for them? >> i think it's dangerous in terms of disspiriting the base. you didn't see nancy pelosi anywhere about the budget talks. i think the comp

and john huntsman, obama's u.s. of besser for china. i would be concerned about mike huckabee. the most favorable rating. he is overwhelmingly favorable among republicans. he is a perfect match up in temperament to barack obama. he is engaging. he is easy. he is in formal, likable. he is funny. >> charles says he is not running. >> well, i would be most worried about him. >> i do not think he is running. >> he has given no indication to running. i think is a great life. i am not sure he would want to sacrifice it for the ordeal of the presidency which may calculate he is not going to win. i would say romney would be the favorite if not for rodneycare. one of the central issues anyone will have to make on obama is on the size of government. the best example is obamacare. and the president is in needling all the time, romney in massachusetts, as a way to undermine him, trying to make that case. men romney has not made a coherent case as to why he opposes obamacare. and of course, is a man who invented it romneycare. >> can anybody explain to be why the obama campaign announced in

john huntsman the former governor of utah the current ambassador to china. he's resigning his position and coming back. he's a moderate whom they are a little concerned about. >> ifill: they mock him. >> that shows their concern as well. not sure he'll be able to get through the republican nomination process but if he did, he would be a real threat. >> ifill: we're going to watch the the money drop and we'll see what happens next. we'll be talking to you about that, david. thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: next tonight, a two-part look at dissent in china. first, the detention of one of the nation's most famous artists and human rights activists, ai weiwei. he was arrested yesterday before boarding a flight to hong kong. his arrest comes as chinese officials try to prevent the spread of pro-democracy demonstrations in the wake of the uprisings in the arab world. last week, pbs' "frontline" broadcast a documentary about weiwei. here is an excerpt. >> one day he wanted to tell me about his next big project. >> i have a story. i don't know if you're interes

john huntsman is also someone to watch. he is the current ambassador to china. in his resignation becomes official on friday. bill cohen serving for bill clinton. both of them have to explain why they made the move. guest: i think that we are -- we mentioned this a couple of times. we are pretty far into the ball game. we are 10 months from the iowa caucuses. if you're going to start campaigning in iowa, you better be here doing it now appeared and there is not a lot of time for someone to lead in at the last minute, except for a huge name like sarah palin. she could probably jump in the summer and be competitive. the names you were mentioning, it is difficult for me to see how they could begin a campaign at this point and put an organization together and be competitive in iowa caucuses. host: democrats line. lee from nevada. caller: i would like to thank you for letting us be on and practice democracy. i wanted to say that i voted for republicans and democrats in the past, and i kind of see a bad turn by the republican parties in that you guys keep complaining

john huntsman is also someone to watch. he is the current ambassador to china.his resignation becomes official on friday. bill cohen serving for bill clinton. both of them have to explain why they made the move. guest: i think that we are -- we mentioned this a couple of times. we are pretty far into the ball game. we are 10 months from the iowa caucuses. if you're going to start campaigning in iowa, you better be here doing it now appeared and there is not a lot of time for someone to lead in at the last minute, except for a huge name like sarah palin. she could probably jump in the summer and be competitive. the names you were mentioning, it is difficult for me to see how they could begin a campaign at this point and put an organization together and be competitive in iowa caucuses. host: democrats line. lee from nevada. caller: i would like to thank you for letting us be on and practice democracy. i wanted to say that i voted for republicans and democrats in the past, and i kind of see a bad turn by the republican parties in that you guys keep complaining abou

yeah i mean out of look at this one we've got we've got john bolton neo con in chief we've got dick cheney's stepson over with the huntsman i mean who can actually do this for the republicans nobody ron paul is the best chance that the g.o.p. has to overthrowing obama for two major reasons number one ron paul is going to be the eisenhower of our generation and challenging to end to end the open in the war in afghanistan and actually stopping the military industrial complex the reason our another republican another libertarian. promised to so that's why he's the best chance anybody else in the field you see any kind of constitutionality any any kind of the commitment from ron paul that we appreciate its veterans i could maybe say gary johnson he's got some question with a name and on his website concerns foreign policy but ron paul like you said earlier is that has been consistent for over twenty years and that's why people like me that you know hold our oath that's why we love stand so now let's talk for a second about how your service has influenced your politics and both of you like myself have served abroad all three o

huntsman, sr. and thought about his start he started working at dow. john heinz in senior started working at dow and he decided to take the clam shells mcdonald's used to have their hamburgers in which as you know later became a band and says i can do that with egg cartons. he couldn't get agreement from the corporate leaders at the time in a planned michigan to try that out so he did it on his own. he went and bought an old oil plant and today employs 11,000 people with a multiplier effect on talked about earlier and runs a 12 billion-dollar corporation here and his son now runs it. i've got to tell you what a great role model right here. so in conclusion i want to say thank you for listening to me. i hope my words will at least cause you to think differently, to take a look at something from a different angle. i hope that your part of what i said to help to usher in a golden age of manufacturing. i will tell you, it will be the most powerful thing you wind up doing. i could tell you you have a rewarding career no matter when you do, but they fear that cre