Former 2012 Presidential Candidate Jon Huntsman has announced that he will not be going to the GOP National Convention in August. The Former Utah Governor has attended every GOP Convention since 1984 when he was a delegate for Ronald Reagan. At the last Convention Huntsman announced the Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin.

Obama’s former ambassador to China told the Salt Lake Tribune: “I will not be attending this year’s convention, nor any Republican convention in the future, until the party focuses on a bigger, bolder, more confident future for the United States – a future based on problem solving, inclusiveness, and a willingness to address the trust deficit, which is every bit as corrosive as our fiscal and economic deficits.”

Huntsman left the presidential race in January of this year and endorsed Mitt Romney as the Republican candidate. Huntsman won three delegates during the race, two when he took third place in the New Hampshire primary and one from Texas. These three delegates would have guaranteed Huntsman a speaking part at the Convention.

Former New Hampshire GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen claims that Huntsman’s comments represent the independent nature of the former candidate.

This is not the first time Huntsman has butted heads with Republicans this year. In March of this year Huntsman was dropped from a Republican National Committee event that was being held in Palm Beach after comments he made about having a third party in America.

Huntsman stated, “I think we’re going to have problems politically until we get some sort of third party movement or some voice out there that can put forth new ideas. We might not win, but we can certainly influence the debate.” Huntsman was lined up to speak at the “Regents” event but was informed personally by the RNC Chairman Reince Preibus that he would not be allowed to attend.

Huntsman is not the only Republican who was invited and is not going to the Convention. Virginia Senate Candidate George Allen is also planning to not attend, but not for ideological reasons. Instead, the candidate claims that he wants to stay in state to talk to constituents and continue to campaign.

Similarly, many Democrats are skipping the Democratic Convention in September 2012 to try to garner more votes. Representative Steve Israel, the head of the House Campaign side of the Democratic Party, encouraged those who are running for election in 2012 to stay home because “if they want to win an election, they need to be in their district” he added “I don’t care if the president was at 122% favorability right now. I think [candidates] should be in their district.”

Missourian Senator Claire McCaskill agrees with Israel and was originally criticized for not going. McCaskill stated, “I’ve got a really hard election. If you had a really hard election and it was after Labor Day, would you go to North Carolina to a bunch of parties and glad-handing or would you stay home and work as hard as you know how to convince Missourians they should rehire you?” She also claims that she is not trying to distance herself from Obama.

Huntsman’s decision to stay home from the GOP Convention is unique in its ideological origins. Huntsman claims that the Republican party must “put our country before politics.” He also stated, “I encourage a return to the party we have been in the past from Lincoln right on through to Reagan, that was always willing to put our country before politics.”

Image Courtesy of  Gage Skidmore

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Socialbakers announced that it has launched a campaign to identify the most (and least) influential, engaging and popular presidential candidates on Facebook, including President Obama, via public information on the world’s largest social network.

Socialbakers’ social media analytics tracked more than 10 million Facebook Pages and Places and billions of individual user interactions. All findings are available through a new political infographic and microsite about each candidate on Facebook. With the upcoming Iowa caucus, this groundbreaking research reveals what drives engagement, influence and conversations for all eight Democratic and Republican presidential political candidates on Facebook.

Socialbakers tracked interactions between December 1-31 to measure engagement and changes in online candidate popularity. Socialbakers will also track the same information for January’s New Hampshire primary and upcoming debates and other newsworthy events. According to a recent Pew study, Facebook users are more politically engaged and are more than twice as likely to participate in political meetings or rallies. Socialbakers new infographic outlines which candidates are leading, and which are lagging.

“Politicians and brands have a tremendous opportunity to go beyond counting the number of ‘fans’ or ‘likes’ – they must pay attention to why people are talking about them and what they care about,” said Jan Rezab, Socialbakers CEO. “Fan and community engagement is the key to success. Politicians today can measure public information about Facebook user engagement to make more intelligent decisions about what to post, when to post and how to best stimulate conversation.”

Key Finding: User Engagement, Viral Reach and Popularity:

Viral Reach (The total reach for each candidate when people “like” and comment, multiplied by the average number of friends per Facebook user to provide a comparable number)

• Ron Paul has the highest overall viral reach, followed by Mitt Romney and Rick Perry
• Ron Paul leads with 59,554 “people talking about” him this past week (second to Obama)
• Rick Perry has the most engaging single-post amongst all candidates, followed by Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich
• Obama’s most engaging post was a family portrait, yet had the lowest overall engagement rate* when compared to the other candidates
• Ron Paul increased engagement rate by 69 percent, followed by a near tie between Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich, with a 58-percent increase and 57-percent increase respectively
• Rick Santorum decreased engagement rate by -7 percent

Peer-to-Peer Interaction (all debates, comments, conversations to each other’s posts on candidate’s page)

• Michelle Bachmann leads in person-to-person interactions among Facebook users, followed by Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman
• Obama leads with 50 percent of the total interactions. Ron Paul leads the Republican Party with 19 percent, which is 2x and 3x higher than Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.

Candidate’s Facebook Fans:

• Obama is leading with the most number of fans at 24 million, followed by Mitt Romney at 1.3 million, Ron Paul with 672,483 and Michelle Bachmann with 460,336.
• Rick Santorum has the fastest-growing fan base throughout the last 30 days (23-percent growth) surpassing Jon Huntsman’s growth (18-percent growth).

*Engagement rate: The number of “likes” and comments per post divided by a candidate’s number of fans.

Rich Koele / Shutterstock.com

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2012 Presidential Candidates are answering the calls from thousands of Alzheimer’s disease advocates around the country asking leaders how they would stop Alzheimer’s, a disease that affects 5.4 million Americans and cost the nation $187 billion last year.

Three presidential candidates – Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann – are the first to release videos discussing how they would address the Alzheimer’s crisis and lead a national effort to stop the disease. The videos represent the first indication that the fight against Alzheimer’s will be an issue in the 2012 Presidential race. To view all three videos, please visit:http://www.usagainstalzheimers.org/alz2012/.

“Alzheimer’s disease will cost our nation $2 trillion over the next decade if we don’t act,” said George Vradenburg, co-founder and chair of USAgainstAlzheimer’s, who led the effort to gather comments from all 2012 candidates. “These three candidates emphasize that a strategy of curing Alzheimer’s disease can be a critical driver in reducing health care costs, with the proper regulatory environment and private and philanthropic partnerships and investment. We look forward to hearing from the other candidates, including President Obama, on how they would address Alzheimer’s.”

In the past month, USAgainstAlzheimer’s reached out to the campaigns of all 2012 presidential hopefuls, including President Obama, seeking a video response to how they would address the Alzheimer’s crisis. The following are excerpts from the videos received thus far:

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich has long made Alzheimer’s disease one of the centerpieces of his campaign, outlining a series of proposals in his new “21st Century Contract with America” that emphasize the need for greater brain science research, medical innovation and a more agile Federal Drug Administration. “Alzheimer’s affects millions of people, and it affects the families of millions of people because an Alzheimer’s caregiver is twice as likely to have a health problem as somebody who’s not a caregiver. Alzheimer’s is going to cost us between now and 2050, as much as 20 trillion dollars, and that’s why it’s very important that we take steps such as I’m proposing in my brain science initiative,” Gingrich said. To see Gingrich’s video, click here: http://bit.ly/snq9k7.

Ambassador Jon Huntsman aims to increase funding for research and bolster public-private partnerships to develop a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. “[Alzheimer's] carries a tremendous human toll, but also a financial toll, driving up health care costs by hundreds of billions of dollars a year. It is a disease with no treatment and no cure, but that doesn’t mean there is no hope. Experts believe a cure is possible by the end of this decade, but only with a sustained, targeted, and national commitment,” said Huntsman. “Now it is time for us to declare a War on Alzheimer’s, and rally the American people around the belief that this disease is beatable.” To see Huntsman’s video, click here: http://bit.ly/tQuvTf.

In her message, Rep. Michele Bachmann referenced the development of the polio vaccine and how this cure gives hope to those seeking a cure for Alzheimer’s. She said, “It was once predicted we would spend$1 billion a year on polio, maybe even more. Today, polio costs us virtually nothing, because Jonas Salk found a vaccine — a cure — and I’d like to see that same thing happen with Alzheimer’s. Because I believe a cure is always better — and cheaper — than more care.” To see Bachmann’s video, click here:http://bit.ly/v1WAHN.
Currently, 5.4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s and the disease impacts 14.9 million caregivers nationwide. In the coming decades, the number of Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s will triple. Without a cure, over 10 million baby boomers will die from the disease.

Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. and remains the only disease in the top ten with no means of prevention, treatment or cure. It is a disease that destroys not only one’s memory and shortens one’s life, but disables one’s physical capacities as well. Despite the personal and financial toll Alzheimer’s inflicts, the National Institutes of Health invests only about $450 million per year toward Alzheimer’s research — less than $90 per person living with the disease.

USAgainstAlzheimer’s is a national advocacy campaign and advocacy network committed to stopping Alzheimer’s by 2020. An independent non-profit organization working in partnership with the Alzheimer’s community, USAgainstAlzheimer’s works to advance policies and elect candidates dedicated to stopping the disease by supporting research for a cure.

For more information about USAgainstAlzheimer’s, visit http://www.usagainstalzheimers.org/.

Image Courtesy of  Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

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So the Republicans are three for three now. In each debate, the narrowed minded audience cheered or booed something to make the rest of the country cringe. I am just now sure why the GOP continues to cater to this small subset of their party while alienating everyone else.

During the GOP debate on Thursday night, host Megyn Kelly played a Youtube clip for a question to Rick Santorum. The clip was a question from Stephen Hill, a soldier in Iraq who, up until this week, had to “lie about who [he] was” in order to serve in the army. Hill asked if Santorum would reinstate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

After the clip with Hill was played, several members of the audience booed him. Someone could also be heard yelling “faggot.” Nice reaction for the party that “supports the troops.” Santorum response was not much better. “I would say any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military.

The fact they are making a point to include it as a provision within the military that we are going to recognize a group of people and give them a special privilege to, and removing don’t ask don’t tell. I think tries to inject social policy into the military. And the military’s job is to do one thing: to defend our country… “

Kelly asked Santorum what he would do with soldiers like Stephen Hill. “What we are doing is playing social experimentation with our military right now. That’s tragic. I would just say that going forward we would reinstitute that policy if Rick Santorum was president. That policy would be re-instituted as far as people in, I would not throw them out because that would be unfair to them because of the policy of this administration.

But we would move forward in conformity with what was happening in the past. Which was- sex is not an issue. It should not be an issue. Leave it alone. Keep it to yourself whether you are heterosexual or homosexual. “

Although Santorum never denounced the audience’s absurd reaction, other GOP candidates did the next day. Jon Huntsman told Talking Points Memo that the booing was “unfortunate.” A Perry representative, also called the incident “very unfortunate.”

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Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman thus far has been a nobody. In a crowded field of outspoken crazies, somewhat same candidates such as Huntsman, sort of get forgotten by the news media. However, Huntsman campaign has begun to speak out, blasting other candidates for their extreme views.

The former Utah governor and ambassador to China attacked Texas governor Rick Perry for his ideas on evolution. Perry said last week in New Hampshire that he didn’t believe in manmade global warming, calling it an unproven scientific theory. He also defended the teaching of creationism in schools because evolution “has some gaps to it.”

Huntsman responded in a tweet, saying “To be clear, I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.”He furthered argued his position on ABC’s “This Week.”

“When we take a position that isn’t willing to embrace evolution, when we take a position that basically runs counter to what 98 of 100 climate scientists have said, what the National Academy of Science has said about what is causing climate change and man’s contribution to it, I think we find ourselves on the wrong side of science, and, therefore, in a losing position,” Huntsman stated.

Huntsman said he couldn’t remember a time when “we actually were willing to shun science and become a party that was antithetical to science. I’m not sure that’s good for our future and it’s not a winning formula,” on the Sunday morning show.

Meanwhile, Perry continues to argue his extreme views. On a campaign stop in South Carolina, the long term Republican governor stated he believes the earth’s temperature “has been moving up and down for millenniums now and there are enough scientists out there that are skeptical about the reasons for it.”

Perry also commented on the Federal Reserve last week and its chairman, Ben Bernanke. Perry threatened Bernanke, stating that if he printed more money, it would amount to a treasonous act.  Huntsman said he wasn’t sure that “the average voter out there is going to hear that treasonous remark and say that sounds like a presidential candidate, that sounds like someone who is serious on the issues.”

Huntsman added that “people are crying out for us to get back to some level of sensibility and this just kind of perpetuates the name-calling and the finger-pointing and the blame game where we want solutions.”

“These sideshows,” Huntsman said, take “us that much farther off the ball” from the focus of fixing the economy and creating jobs.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewestend/

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The GOP playing field is wide open.  There is plenty of speculation and many Republicans have provided hints or expressed the possibility of running against Barack Obama in 2012, but no one has officially made any type of announcement yet.  In Part I, we discussed possible candidates, Palin, Bachmann, Gingrich, and Huckabee.  Here are some more of the potential candidates.

The beltway press has speculated that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour would run for president days after Obama was sworn in.  And Barbour has never denied his ambitions.  In March, Barbour’s political action committee made an important hire– former RNC communications director Jim Dyke.  Dyke will serve in an adviser role on communications for the PAC and many experts believe this hire is a clear intention of Barbour’s ambition.  Barbour has also long told reporters to judge his political ambitions by his weight.  Unsure of exactly what that means, it is interesting to note that Barbour appears to be losing weight.  Good or bad, I am not sure.  Barbour has made some controversial remarks about growing up during the civil rights era, which he described as “not that bad.”  Although most minorities don’t vote for Republicans, his comments still could pose a problem.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has also been flirting with the idea of a potential presidential run.  Daniels has stated he is considering a bid for the GOP presidential nomination and will announce his decision before the end of April unless he has to call the Indiana General Assembly back for a special session.  A poll of “political insiders” has suggested that Daniels is the frontrunner.  Maybe the insiders think he is awesome, but many people in his own state want him out.  Thousands of workers have gathered at the Indiana capital to protest Indiana’s version of a union busting bill, chanting catchy slogans like “Ditch Mitch.”  Does anyone really believe this man has a shot at the White House?

Finally, we have Jon Huntsman—the man you have likely never heard of.  Huntsman, a former Utah governor and current U.S. ambassador to China, is leaving his ambassador role on April 30^th.  Huntsman has hinted about a possible presidential bid earlier in the year and many feel he could be a strong challenger to Obama if he got past the primaries.  Of course, Huntsman would have a huge uphill climb if he were to mount a presidential bid.  He served under the enemy—the Obama administration.  President Obama has also sung Huntsman’s praises, which would not look good to the hard core right.  And Obama knows that.  “I’m sure that him having worked so well with me will be a great asset in any Republican primary,” Obama joked in January during a joint news conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

We still have more.  Check out the next part in our series for even more possible Republican challengers.

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