Tom Korologos, a Utahn who has spent decades in Washington as a lobbyist, agreed.

"He can't resign because he's still governor," Korologos, a former ambassador to Belgium, said. "What he should do is keep his finger in the pie for the big decisions but let the minutia go to the lieutenant governor. He seems to be doing the right thing."

There are complaints about Huntsman's absence, not surprisingly, from the Democrat whom the GOP governor overwhelmingly defeated in his 2008 re-election, Bob Springmeyer.

"Do we have a governor?" Springmeyer asked. He said Huntsman should have turned down the ambassadorship and lived up to his commitment to voters to serve a second term.

The public is starting to realize they haven't seen the governor in a while, Springmeyer, a business consultant, said. "I'm beginning to hear it now, as you see Herbert starting to step up a little bit. People are saying, 'Wait a minute, where's Huntsman?' "

Huntsman is hoping to be in Beijing by the end of summer. While some FBI background checks reportedly are still under way, all of the paperwork the governor was required to provide as part of the vetting process was completed this week.

That makes likely that a formal nomination by the president will follow quickly. Once the Senate receives the nomination, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to set a date for Huntsman's confirmation hearings. Roskelley said while the timing is entirely up to the committee, "the governor is still hopeful he'll be able to appear before the August recess."

This isn't the first time Huntsman has gone through the confirmation process. He had to win Senate approval to become ambassador to Singapore under President George H.W. Bush and later, a U.S. trade representative to Asia under President George W. Bush.

That should make it easier, even though this time he's a Republican being appointed by a Democrat.

Not a problem, said University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank. "At least politically, it's not likely to get as much scrutiny as it would because he's not a Democrat," Burbank said of the nomination.

The timing is right, too, he said. Summer is typically a slower time for state government.

"But," Burbank said, "it can't be a circumstance where it drags on indefinitely."

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