Utah Gov. Huntsman Downplays Early 2012 Talk

Utah Gov. John Huntsman (R) downplayed questions about his presidential ambitions while the dark-horse candidate met in Washington with the nation’s other governors this weekend.

“Truth be told, I never thought I’d run for governor two years before I was elected,” Huntsman told the Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s really hard to see around the next turn and where you might be.”

Huntsman, considered a dark-horse candidate after having become arguably the nation’s most popular governor, urged the GOP to expand its base.

“The stakes of the tent have to be pulled up and broadened,” he said. “When you’re left with limited demographics to draw from, limited geographic regions that are loyal, when you lose the youth vote to the extent we did, and voters of color, that’s happened for a reason.”

According to the Tribune, Huntsman recently traveled to South Carolina — a key early primary state in the