Huntsman Candidacy

22 July 2011 |permalink | email article

Serious new questions surface with Thursday’s announcement that Republican president candidate John Huntsman has replaced campaign manager Susie Wiles with by Matt David, the former communications director for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and who had that title working for John McCain in the 2008 president campaign.
John Weaver, the veteran Republican consultant who advised McCain three years ago, told the Washington Post that “now the campaign is moving into phase two, which will be more aggressive from messaging and from a tactical standpoint.”

Considering Huntsman’s disastrous campaign launch, near zero poll numbers and failure to spark enthusiasm Weaver’s statement borders on the disingenuous in stating that the former Utah governor is “continuing to built momentum” in terms of jobs and the economy.

In retrospect, Matt David says he’s thrilled to be working with President Obama’s appointee as ambassador to China. But it’s hard to believe tea party conservatives and the hard-line right will easily embrace his candidacy.

Fox News

Rupert Murdoch’s Fox stations have not been accused of phone-hacking and bribery charges like those threatening other parts of the News Corporation empire. The wrongdoing is such that the Ofcom, Britain’s broadcasting regulator, to investigate whether his company is a “fit and proper” owner of BSkyB, as the New York Times reported.  Theoretically that’s enough for the F.C.C. to scrutinize Fox. Murdoch’s ownership of 27 United States Fox Broadcasting stations could be in jeopardy if the accusations prove true but actions abroad rarely prompt the F.C.C. to question American licensees. So far, Roger Ailes, president of the Fox News Channel, has nothing to worry about.

California Notebook

The state commission that’s redrawing the state’s congressional, legislative and Board of Equalization districts, as indicated in my last blog, appears set to hire two of the state’s most prominent firms to defend it against certain legal challenges. The commission is making final adjustments to its maps with a July 28 release. The two firms, Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher and Morrison and Forester, have a legal defense contract which could cost at least $500,000, and as much as $1.5 million, depending on prolonged litigation. 

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