Huntsman Continues Image Campaign as Announcement Approaches

On the eve of the announcement he plans to seek the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman's family has turned to email to whip up excitement about the coming campaign and to continue pushing an image video he released last week.

"We're less than 24 hours from a different kind of candidate for president, someone who doesn't look or sound like everyone else," Monday's email from daughter Liddy reads. "I call him dad, but we're all about to call him Mr. President."

The email points to Tuesday's event in New Jersey at which Huntsman will announce he'll seek the GOP presidential nomination and asks readers to RSVP to watch it online. But it also prominently features a recent video likening Huntsman to a motorcyclist riding through the Utah backcountry.

Over the weekend, Utah Democrats mocked that web campaign with a video of their own, criticizing Huntsman for what they call reversed positions and claiming Huntsman is "riding away from his record."

And Huntsman may need to make a splash when he enters the race. A Fox News poll conducted early this month shows only 2 percent of voters prefer that he wins the 2012 GOP race.

But over the weekend, Huntsman came in second in the Republican Leadership Conference's straw poll even though he, along with Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty, skipped speaking the event. Coming off a straw poll win that some might call shocking, his daughter promises in the email that a Huntsman campaign will continue creating surprises.

"Tomorrow is just the beginning," it reads. "We'll soon see a shockingly different campaign that leads to a remarkably improved America."