Huntsman says he's gaining momentum in N.H.
KEENE, N.H. - With a well-reviewed debate performance and accompanying jumps in crowd sizes, news media coverage and donations, Jon Huntsman said Sunday he's starting to see the "light at the end of the tunnel" in the first-in-the-nation state where the former Utah governor has staked his campaign.
Just weeks after Huntsman's press corps remained a stagnant handful, several dozen reporters stood atop counters at the Bean Shoppe in Hampstead, N.H. on Sunday afternoon following what many pundits have called his strongest debate yet. The crowd of Huntsman fans, numbering at least 200, overflowed onto the sidewalk outside.
"This is it!" Huntsman exclaimed as he walked out the front door of the shop, hands raised in victory. "You're seeing a market-mover right here, no question about that!" At a Portsmouth, N.H. stop on Tuesday, Huntsman acknowledged he'd need a "market-moving event" to propel him out of New Hampshire and into competition in South Carolina.
Special Section: Campaign 2012Huntsman appeared to credit the surge in part to a strong performance in Sunday morning's debate sponsored by NBC News and Facebook. In addition to scoring the highest marks of his field from The New York Times and BuzzFeed (A and A- grades, respectively), pundit reviews were almost unanimously positive.
Taking the floor at a Keene State College town hall Sunday night, Huntsman asked to cheers from several hundred attendees, "How about that debate this morning?" Embodying the momentum: In October, Huntsman held a town hall in the same student center, but in a much smaller room to a crowd about one-eighth the size.
The result is evident outside of growing crowd size. Huntsman campaign manager Matt David told National Journal/CBS News on Sunday evening that the campaign had already more than doubled its 24-hour fundraising record, which was previously $55,000.
Huntsman seems to have found his footing at third place in most recent polls, including the Suffolk University daily tracking poll, which showed him at 11 percent behind Romney, with 35 percent, and Rep. Ron Paul, with 20 percent. Though David said a third-place finish would be a good-enough ticket out of the state, Huntsman indicated Sunday he was still shooting even higher than second place: "Who said only for number two?"
