In a recently aired campaign commercial, a proponent of GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman looks into the camera, voicing a question to the audience: “Why haven’t we heard of this guy?”
Huntsman, when compared to the other Republican candidates, has run a relatively smooth and clean campaign thus far, but still trails far behind personalities such as that of Herman Cain and Rick Perry due largely to lack of funds.
With the introduction of this commercial, however, Huntsman is beginning to catch up and establish himself as a viable option for conservatives. The only problem is that the commercial was funded by a group called Our Destiny PAC, a group that is financed by Huntsman’s notably wealthy father.
It seems an unfortunate misstep that Huntsman’s only catalyst for jumpstarting his campaign is through a commercial funded by a family member. Theoretically, the point of a presidential campaign is to raise funding from people and organizations who believe in a candidate’s message and ideals, not family members who will support one regardless of political goals.
While it does seem like Huntsman is crossing a line by receiving contributions from family, this commercial is realistically his only shot at boosting his campaign to the same level as that of his competitors. In many ways, Huntsman is a much more astute and politically savvy candidate than the other GOP frontrunners. His turn to this commercial as a last resort is really more of a comment on how broken the campaign funding system is in this nation. If the only way for Huntsman, arguably one of the most viable candidate produced by the Republican Party at this point, to get ahead is by receiving contributions from his father, then it is the system that needs reform more so than Huntsman’s campaign strategy.
Additionally, receiving a contribution from a family member is not entirely different from contributing from one’s own personal funds. Many candidates over the years have ridden to the presidency on the back of their family money or inherited affluence; why is Huntsman’s situation any different?
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