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Former Utah Gov. Huntsman Joins 2012 Presidential Race

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman announces his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination Tuesday.
Julio Cortez
/
AP
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman announces his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination Tuesday.

Only in the social media age can this sort of thing happen:

"About to announce my candidacy for president of the United States. Watch live at www.Jon2012.com and please RT #Jon2012," .

And his is now up and running.

So, the Republican has announced that he's about to announce something that we all knew he was going to announce.

We'll update with highlights of what he has to say. The event is supposed to get going at 10 a.m. ET. He'll be at the Statue of Liberty.

Update at 10:20 a.m. ET. The governor has finished his remarks, saying as he concludes that "this is the hour when we choose our future."

Update at 10:18 a.m ET. Promises A Civil Campaign:

After saying he is concerned about the "corrosive" nature of today's politics, Huntsman says "we will conduct this campaign on the high road."

"I respect my fellow Republican candidates and I respect the president of the United States," he adds. Voters care about "who will be the better president, not who's the better American."

Update at 10:12 a.m. ET. About Obama:

In a barb aimed at his former boss (Huntsman was Democratic President Obama's first ambassador to China), he says the nation must have "leadership that knows we need more than hope."

Update at 10:10 a.m. ET. Nation Has Become "Less Powerful":

"For the first time in history we are passing down to the next generation a country that is less powerful," Huntsman says. That, he adds, is "totally unacceptable and it is totally un-American."

Update at 10:08 a.m. ET: It's official. "Today I'm a candidate for the office of president of the United States of America," Huntsman just said.

Update at 10:06 a.m. ET: The governor and his family have arrived at the site. The event is beginning with a video in which the narrator has just said that Huntsman is the ultimate conservative who knows American can "only be strongest abroad when we are strong here at home."

And in what will surely be viewed as a shot at GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, the narrator just said that Huntsman knows you can "never flip, never flop."

"This guy's different," the narrator says at the end.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.