Down in the national polls, former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah unveiled his financial reform plan Monday as he looks to make a breakthrough in the New Hampshire primary.
Huntsman held a town hall event in Manchester Monday night, where he attacked taxpayer-financed bailouts, took aim at federal regulations and promised to pull the plug on Dodd-Frank, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
"Capitalism without failure is not capitalism, said Huntsman. In order to ensure no future bailouts, we must end 'Too Big to Fail.'"
Huntsman went on to throw a jab at his rivals for the Republican nomination, insisting none of them is serious on financial reform."While my opponents pay lip service to ending bailouts, none has offered a plan that would fix the structural problems facing our financial system, Huntsman said. Returning to the status quo alone is only a recipe for more abuse and bailouts."
Huntsmans plan calls for the repeal of Dodd-Frank and ending federal financial support to too-big-to-fail companies. The Huntsman camp maintained its candidates plan will increase transparency in the derivatives market and will help turn around the European debt crisis. Promising to appoint supporters of sound money to the Federal Reserve, Huntsman vowed to fight against devaluing the currency. He also pledged to have the U.S. Department of Justice investigate legal abuses in the market.
"Real financial reform requires breaking the cozy relationship between Wall Street and Washington that helped fuel the housing bubble, drove a series of bailouts, and prevented meaningful reform in the aftermath of the financial crisis, insisted Huntsman. This cannot mean that the government plays a larger role in allocating credit. We need the market to work efficiently without the kinds of subsidies that encourage a build-up in dangerous amounts of borrowing and leverage anywhere in the economy.
"Americans have rightly lost trust in their institutions of power from Washington to Wall Street," Huntsman said in conclusion. We need real reform that ends crony capitalism, ends bailouts, and lets entrepreneurs get back to creating the jobs this country so desperately needs."
Despite initial high expectations for his campaign, Huntsman continues to struggle at the national level, as a poll from Majority Opinion Research released Monday morning shows. The poll found that former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is opening up a solid lead over former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and the rest of the pack in the race for the Republican presidential nomination -- with Huntsman as a mere afterthought.
Gingrich takes 32 percent in the poll, followed by Romney with 23 percent and businessman Herman Cain in third with 14 percent. The rest of the field trails in single digits. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas takes fourth with 6 percent followed by Gov. Rick Perry of Texas with 5 percent, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota with 4 percent and Huntsman lagging behind with 3 percent.
The poll of 499 likely Republican primary voters was taken Nov. 27 and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
