Disillusioned Dem Buys TV Ad for Huntsman
A Chicago Democrat disillusioned with his own party is now throwing his support behind GOP presidential candidate and a former ambassador in President Obama's administration, Jon Huntsman, by producing and purchasing a one-minute ad buy in New Hampshire.
Illinois dentist William DeJean paid almost $11,500 to produce and air a campaign advertisement bolstering Huntsman as the candidate for the White House. The television ads will be aired on CNN and Fox News for five days beginning next week in New Hampshire.
Lifelong Democrat DeJean met Huntsman at a Chicago fundraiser and said he was drawn to his “centrist” views.
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DeJean, who describes himself as an on-the-fence Democrat, told The Christian Post he made the video because he is impressed with Huntsman's record as a leader and fed up with President Obama's inexperience.
"During [Huntsman's] tenure as governor of Utah, the job growth rate was the best in the country," DeJean said. "And also he was an ambassador to China, and I think we need someone who understands China."
Comparatively, DeJean says of Obama, "He doesn't have the experience."
DeJean led a write-in campaign to coax Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to run against Obama in the 2012 Democratic primary. He created a commercial for her and signed a "Draft Hillary" petition that asks Obama to "do the right thing for your party and your country, and step aside."
Clinton told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in March that she would not seek the presidency in 2012.
DeJean, however, is adamant in his opposition to a second term for Obama. "I think he's not doing a good job. It doesn't even seem like he really cares; he's always on vacation," he said.
Like the rest of Congress, President Obama has been taking some time away from Washington this month.
He embarked on a three-day bus tour that drew disapproval from critics who accused him of using tax dollars to campaign and Congressmen who chided him for not visiting black unemployed, working class communities. Now he is vacationing with his family in Martha's Vineyard.
The president's supporters defended him by saying that President George W. Bush spent more vacation days – 77 according to FactCheck.org – than Obama (26 days as of January 2010 according the same Annenberg Public Policy Center website).
DeJean's ad opens with the words "America is bleeding."
A cloud of dollar bills emerges on the screen and the message continues, "Washington is accumulating billions of dollars of new debt, spending more tax dollars on their same failed programs to solve this crisis as they add new debt to the trillions of dollars that we owe now. We are in danger of losing more than just a 'credit rating.' When the money runs out, we could lose our nation."
The commercial then touts the former Utah governor as a tax reformer and the leader of the "best managed state," according to a 2008 Pew Center on the States quote.
According to a 2007 report titled, "Pew Center on the State," Utah attained an "A" grade for its overall performance. Huntsman was Utah's governor from 2005-2009. Texas, which was under the leadership of Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry at the time, received a "B+" grade.
In addition to his leadership experience, DeJean believes that Huntsman is more electable in the general election.
"He's a centrist, He's not extreme," he said.
DeJean also noted that Huntsman, a Mormon, is not overtly religious like candidates Perry and Michele Bachmann.
"He is the strongest candidate against Obama," DeJean asserted. "In a head-to-head matchup against Obama, [Huntsman] can pull the Democrats and the Independents."
A 2009 Deseret News/ KSL-TV poll found that Huntsman had an 80 percent state approval rating before leaving to serve as a U.S. ambassador. Utah also has a strong Mormon heritage (Mormon Church President Brigham Young founded its capital, Salt Lake City).
However, a July 2011 poll found that Democrats are much more likely to oppose a Mormon for president than are Republicans. Over a quarter of Democratic respondents – 27 percent – said they would not be willing to vote for a Mormon candidate while only 17 percent of Republicans reported having the same reservation.
Recognition polls reveal that only 40 percent of Republicans know who Huntsman is; businessman Herman Cain has a 47 percent recognition rating. Additionally, Huntsman has the second lowest ballot support of all the GOP candidates. The lowest ballot support rating belongs to former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson.
Huntsman's campaign is delighted to have DeJean's support.
"We're thrilled to have such engaged supporters who are working hard to help bring Jon Huntsman's serious solutions to Washington," said Huntsman's spokesman Tim Miller.
DeJean has also donated $2,500 to Huntsman, the maximum donation an individual can make to campaign, and regularly distributes Huntsman 2012 bumper stickers.
He also plans to air his Huntsman commercial in South Carolina and Florida.
