President 2012: Jon Huntsman to Adopt Florida GOP Nomination Strategy?

Huntsman will be basing his campaign in Orlando, Florida and this is the speculation.

Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman will base his presidential campaign in Orlando, Florida, if he enters the race, an aide to Huntsman confirmed to CBS News.

The Huntsman campaign-in-waiting sees Florida as a key state in deciding the Republican presidential nominee – it’s where John McCain effectively won the nomination in 2008 – as well as in the general election, where it is expected to be a key swing state. In addition, the GOP nominating convention will be held in Tampa.

Huntsman’s wife Mary Kaye Huntsman grew up in Orlando, and the aide noted that she still has family and friends in the area.

Some are saying that the socially moderate Republican Huntsman cannot compete in socially conservative Iowa and South Carolina. Moreover, Huntsman may very well concede Nevada and New Hampshire (to a lesser degree) because of the strength of fellow Mormon Mitt Romney. Hence the same strategy that was disastrous for Rudy Giuliani in 2008.

Planting a flag like that in Florida will inevitably bring comparisons (first!) to Rudy Giuliani’s late strategy, which was more an adjustment to early state weakness than a grand plan, and which didn’t work. Whatever groundwork one can lay thinly across a huge place like Florida is in danger of being washed away by the wave coming out of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

But Huntsman’s stand there (and he’s also playing aggressively in New Hampshire and South Carolina) seems to anticipate the same unusual campaign that Romney is planning for, one that’s more about weakness than strength, in which Romney limps out of the early states wounded but breathing, and facing a rival who simply can’t keep up with his spending through the long march of the first half of 2008. Huntsman may also be able to spend a lot, if not Romney money, and seems also the bracing for a long march.

What is different this time is that Huntsman, unlike Giuliani, is planning 2012 as his first or a trial run for the Presidency. If lightening strikes and he wins the nomination (probably due to some blow up of Romney, Daniels and Pawlenty) great, if not plan for the future run. Florida is an important state, one in which television media will be in play. Florida will be just as important in 2016 and beyond as it is today.

And, who knows, if Huntsman does well enough, he could be picked as a Vice President candidate.

It is all about the future with Jon Huntsman.