Huntsman welcomes governors

PARK CITY — Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. welcomed members of the Western Governors' Association here for their annual meeting as outgoing chairman, but didn't stick around for the afternoon's policy discussions.

However Huntsman, President Barack Obama's nominee to become U.S. ambassador to China, did take the opportunity to offer a few words in Mandarin to a group of Chinese representatives among the 600 attendees at the three-day meeting.

He explained to them his last name means "hunter" after receiving a goodbye gift of a Browning rifle from the association's incoming chairman, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Huntsman also thanked his fellow governors for "understanding my personal and professional situation," calling it sensitive.

The governor has avoided most public appearances since Obama announced his nomination in mid-May. His confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate have yet to be scheduled and he is spending much of his time in briefings in Washington, D.C.

Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, who will take over as Utah's governor after Huntsman is confirmed and resigns, attended Sunday's meeting. He sat through a session on managing the world's dwindling water supplies, but did not join the discussion. Huntsman was expected to attend the association's reception Sunday night and introduce Monday's keynote speaker, World Bank President Robert Zoellick, before heading back to the nation's capitol.

"He is in a place of limbo," Schweitzer told reporters later about Huntsman's absence. "We are very proud of the decision he's taken. It's a great sacrifice."

Pollster Frank Luntz, who delivered a speech on what westerners think and the words they like to hear, told the Deseret News that the Democratic president selected a Republican for the ambassador post because Huntsman's skills "transcend traditional politics."

"It tells you how important the job he's been appointed to really is," Luntz said. "This is a big deal."

Although there had been speculation that Luntz may have been advising Huntsman on a potential run for the White House in 2012, Luntz said their conversations only focused on his speaking at the meeting.

And Luntz also dismissed any suggestion Obama chose Huntsman to take him out of the race. "It's not relevant," the pollster said. "He's a better governor than the media gives him credit for and he's going to be a great ambassador because he understands the Chinese people."

Luntz said during the meeting the "west is more negative, more concerned, more upset with the direction of the country" than any other region and also the least trusting of the federal government.