The former Utah governor offered a moderate, respectful alternative to Romney, with Huntsman depicted by many as the most dangerous potential general election rival to President Obama because of his capacity to expand beyond the GOP’s conservative base and draw votes from middle America.
After all, Huntsman’s most recent job was as Obama’s ambassador to China, and the 51-year-old offered a unique blend of foreign policy experience and domestic track record as a former corporate and state CEO.
But his demeanor was too placid to break out of a pack of more prominent rivals, as Romney enjoyed establishment support, Ron Paul was propelled by loyal libertarian followers, Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry drew attention to their Tea Party roots, Herman Cain sold his “9-9-9” tax plan, and Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum made a bid for fiscal and social conservative votes.
That fueled persistent questions about an independent campaign for the presidency, something Huntsman inexplicably would never completely rule out.
Mr. Huntsman’s campaign, which struggled to raise money for expensive television ads, put many of his harshest attacks against Mr. Romney into clever and biting online videos that he posted to his campaign’s Web site and a corresponding YouTube channel.
Those videos (and a few television commercials) are now mostly gone, quickly yanked from public view as Mr. Huntsman prepares for an 11 a.m. endorsement of Mr. Romney.
There was “Backflip,” a video that highlighted what Mr. Huntsman called Mr. Romney’s flip-flopping on issues like abortion, gun rights and Ohio’s proposal to curb bargaining rights for unions.
There was the one that accused Mr. Romney of being a “pretzel candidate.” It used clips of Mr. Romney saying one thing, and then seeming to say another — over and over again.
And the one that accused Mr. Romney of being a “perfectly lubricated weather vane” because of his many changes on issues.
And don’t forget the video up at 10kbet.com, a Web site produced by Mr. Huntsman’s campaign to mock Mr. Romney moments after the former Massachusetts governor offered to bet Rick Perry $10,000 during a debate.
What do you get when you click on the many links to those videos now?
“This video has been removed by the user” or “This video is private.” And, in the case of 10kbet.com — a quick trip to yahoo.com.
A visit to Mr. Huntsman’s main campaign Web site — jon2012.com — still promotes Mr. Huntsman, a former ambassador to China, as having the best chance of beating President Obama in the fall.
“BREAKING: The State, South Carolina’s largest newspaper, endorses Jon Huntsman,” the site declares. But the criticisms of Mr. Romney — and all of the video attacks — have been largely removed.
The rapid move to sanitize Mr. Huntsman’s Web sites may just be the modern equivalent of candidates who quickly take down their signs and posters once they drop out of a race. An endorsement of Mr. Romney would no doubt seem oddly out of sync with an active Web site hosting attack videos about him.
A spokesman for the campaign, who asked not to be identified, said only that “we’ve removed a substantial amount of content from the Web, as campaigns often do when they end.”
But what was notable about Mr. Huntsman’s actions was the speed with which his operation moved.
It was also notable for the impact it very quickly had on news Web sites and blogs. Because many sites — including The New York Times — regularly embed videos hosted by campaigns directly on their Web sites, the Huntsman videos on those sites vanished, too.
That could provide an object lesson for news organizations hoping to create a permanent record of the back-and-forth of a campaign. If they want the videos to last, they must host them on their own servers.
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