Huntsman leading Karras in raising $$

Jon Huntsman Jr. has not only raised more money than his primary election opponent for the GOP nomination — $1.3 million compared to Nolan Karras' roughly $870,000 — but he is getting it from all over the United States.

A little more than $342,000 of Huntsman's contributions, about 25.7 percent, have come from outside of Utah, not counting family members living out of state, according to detailed financial disclosure information provided by the Huntsman campaign to the Deseret Morning News.

Jason Chaffetz, spokesman for the Huntsman campaign, made no apologies for the out-of-state money, saying the younger Huntsman is raising money where he has the contacts. He has held fund-raisers in New York, Washington, D.C., and Texas, where the Huntsman family is a major player in the petrochemical industry.

"It is a legitimate and worthwhile way to raise money," Chaffetz said. "Jon has spent a significant portion of his business career working internationally and nationally, and it is those international and national ties that will benefit Utah" if Huntsman is elected governor.

By comparison, only $25,500, or 2.9 percent, of Karras' contributions came from out of state contributors, according to the last disclosure report filed by Karras before last month's state GOP convention.

"We're proud of the fact Nolan has raised 95 percent of his money here in the state of Utah," said Ray Child, spokesman for the Karras campaign. "That's something to feel very good about, that Utahns support his campaign."

And Steve Starks, Karras' campaign manager, said the difference in contributions goes beyond the small checks donated here and there by Karras' out-of-state business associates and friends and the donations of $10,000 and more coming from Huntsman's out-of-state supporters.

"People should ask why so much money is coming from out of state, and why is so much coming from trial attorneys who usually give to Democrats but are giving to a Huntsman," Starks said.

Chaffetz said Huntsman's out-of-state supporters run the gamut from those doing business with the Huntsman chemical companies to individuals who feel passionately about the Huntsman family's cancer research to former Utahns who maintain close personal and business ties to the state. And the family has friends all over the world, including Texas trial attorneys otherwise loyal to the Democratic Party, he said.

Not counting contributions from family members, Karras' support appears to be primarily homegrown. Based on the last official disclosure filed last month by the Karras campaign, 70.9 percent of the $431,000 reported at that time came from Utahns.