Moderate Jon Huntsman, possible 2012 candidate, tests the waters in today’s GOP

At issue is Huntsman’s support for Obama’s economic stimulus package, which he said wasn’t large enough; for the Wall Street bailout; and for cap-and-trade climate legislation, which he has since backed away from, saying recently that it is a flawed approach.

“He’s going to have to answer policy questions, and that’s a bigger challenge, but there is plenty of room in New Hampshire for another candidate,” said Fergus Cullen, former chairman of the Republican Party in the Granite State. “All of the candidates are putting their energy and focus into the so-called tea party activists, and nobody is campaigning for the broad mainstream of primary voters.”

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Cullen said that if Huntsman establishes himself as a mainstream conservative, “he will find that there is a significant part of the market open to having a conversation with him.”

Huntsman offers a colorful personal narrative. His family’s fortune was built on fast-food containers. He is a motorcycle-riding former diplomat who once played in a rock-and-roll band called Wizard. Aides say he is a cool version of Romney.

And they point out that Huntsman, who was elected to his first term as governor in 2004, signed flat-tax legislation and three tough antiabortion bills and won plaudits from the National Rifle Association for signing a bill making it easier to carry a concealed weapon.

“Huntsman will appeal to a broad spectrum of voters; he won’t be seen as a right-wing conservative. He is a strong conservative — the M-word doesn’t suit him at all,” said Richard Quinn, a former John McCain presidential campaign aide who is laying the groundwork in South Carolina for a potential Huntsman bid. “He’s not going to be an angry candidate. He’s not one to wave his arms, and his political opponents have liked him.”

Republican strategists say Huntsman could play down Iowa, duel with Romney in New Hampshire, pick up steam in South Carolina — where Romney now trails — and notch a win in Florida, where his campaign would be based, beginning a final march toward the nomination. The Florida-as-centerpiece strategy, however, would have risks, as primary voters and potential donors will want to see an early win as a sign of viability.

So far, Obama’s approach to Huntsman has been similar to his approach to Romney — smothering him with kindness, what aides call an attempt to “hug him to death.”

“As his good friends in China might say, he is truly the yin to my yang. And I’m going to make sure that every primary voter knows it,” Obama joked in a Gridiron Club dinner speech in March. “If you see me on the streets of Nashua, wearing my parka and waving a sign, give me a honk for Huntsman. The next GOP nominee for president. Love that guy.”