United States Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, is gearing up for a presidential run.  Huntsman’s advisors have already begun to assemble a campaign team to build the necessary infrastructure for a potential presidential run.  Huntman’s political efforts are being conducted by Horizon PAC, which launched a new website today and is also staffed by someone who has roots in Iowa presidential politics.

Tim Miller, a native of Colorado, spent the entire 2006 election cycle working in Iowa.  He served time as Bill Dix’s political director in the 1^st District congressional primary before becoming Jeff Lamberti’s communications director during the general election.  After 2006, Miller joined John McCain’s presidential campaign as its Iowa communications director.  Miller worked at public relations firm before joining the Horizon PAC a few weeks ago.

It’s unknown whether or not Huntsman will put up much of a fight in Iowa.  Huntsman is a moderate Republican who supports civil unions for homosexuals.  His position on that issue alone will put him to the left of Mitt Romney and the rest of the eventual field.  It’s hard to fathom a candidate like Huntsman playing in Iowa if a guy like Romney doesn’t see a path to victory here after tromping through the cornfields of Iowa for much of 2006 and 2007.

The Horizon PAC website is absent of any policy positions, but is instead full of rhetoric about longing for the day when America will be great again.

The Horizon PAC website ponders:

What happened?

To America? To politics? To our politicians?

What happened to decency? To reason?

What happened to common goals? To calm? To respect?

What happened to actual, lasting solutions to problems?

When were they replaced with anger?

Slammed fists. Divisive words.

Winning at any cost?

When did principles evaporate?

Those kind of statements, or rather questions, play well in boardrooms and donor meetings, but they don’t play well in the coffee shops and at the dinner tables in middle America.  When did our principles evaporate?  A majority in the country would probably say that they are finally relieved that the people they elected last November are willing to stand on principle over political expediency and aren’t going along just to get along.

Just as Mitch Daniel’s so-called truce on social issues ignores the entire base of the Republican Party, Huntsman’s call for civility in the midst of the greatest political debate about the direction of this county is equally tone-deaf.  The 2012 elections will determine which direction our nation will go, and Huntsman’s attempt to simply repackage and rebrand the Republican Party signals retreat at the time we must forge ahead.  Good luck with that.