Huntsman doubts Romney, Perry can win

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential contender Jon Huntsman questioned the electability of the two front-runners for his party's nomination, saying some of Rick Perry's views are out of the mainstream and Mitt Romney lacks foreign policy experience.

Huntsman predicted he could win in New Hampshire, the first state to hold a primary election, even as the latest polling shows minimal support for him among Republicans.

"Some people have been at zero today and they've gone on to win the New Hampshire primary," he said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital With Al Hunt," airing this weekend.

Romney doesn't have the "hands-on foreign policy experience" that's essential to being president, said Huntsman, who was ambassador to China for President Barack Obama until resigning this year to seek the nomination.

Huntsman, a former governor of Utah, also criticized Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, for raising taxes.

"I prefer having a governor who is No. 1 in job creation as opposed to No. 47, someone who didn't raise taxes to the tune of $750 million a year," he said, in a comparison of his record as governor with Romney's.

Perry, the Texas governor who leads in early polling, has taken positions on climate science and evolution that will be rejected by independent and moderate voters, Huntsman said. "On science, he's out of the mainstream," he said.

Perry was the top choice of 26 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in a Bloomberg National Poll conducted Sept. 9-12, followed by Romney at 22 percent.

Huntsman trailed the entire Republican field, which includes Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Ron Paul of Texas, at 1 percent.