Jon Huntsman’s candidacy helps the political arena because he serves as foil to the other GOPers in the race for the White House. If I remember correctly from junior high lit class, foil is a character who contrasts with another character to highlight features of that character’s personality…i.e. Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes…Morris Day to Prince….Dirk to LeBron.
Huntsman, President Obama’s former ambassador to China, is smart and level-headed has little chance of coming out of the GOP primary. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels or Huntman could secure a sizeable part of the Center voting bloc but my friends on the far Right don’t want to vote for anyone who the Middle find acceptable.
To be honest, cool Huntsman puts me in the mind of Barrack Obama–they might be cousins. If President Obama wins reelection, the GOP should know that they could have had a reasonable, non-pissed candidate that centrists could have supported but they looked elsewhere. Many Democrats thought it was Hillary’s turn and that she was the type tough leader that the nation needed but we knew that the Clinton legacy was a two-edged sword that might motivate some to support the GOP nominee. Senator Ted Kennedy often said a half a loaf is better than no loaf. Well, some folks want the whole loaf or nothing. Huntsman’s demeanor on the debate stage is welcome by some Democrats and if he happens to win the White House, the nation could have done worst.
Project Logic Ga 
This recent interview is why Huntsman is the GOP candidate who could get most of the middle walking in the door if the GOP was smart enough to think about someone else for half a second.
Eric Erickson is begining to see in Huntsman what I saw from jumpstreet. It’s the same thing Obama saw and that’s the reason the president made him the U.S. ambassador to China. Huntsman has an appeal that could get a third of the center and make him the next American president. Of course, his party won’t let him emerge from the primary.
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/11/08/perry-gingrich-cain-and-huntsman-oh-my/