The showdown between Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman in Utah could come sooner than expected.
Or at least, that’s what aides to Romney, the former Massachusetts governor running for president in 2012, are hoping for.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Romney’s advisers are working to have the Utah GOP presidential primary take place earlier in the primary season. Instead of taking place in June, Romney’s camp wants it to move to earlier in the spring. (No Mitt Romney feeding frenzy; Pawlenty refuses to attack)
This is significant for several reasons: It could give a leg up to Romney, who won Utah in 2008, and could benefit by winning more delegates earlier in the process. And it could also give him the chance to deal an embarrassing defeat to Huntsman, the former governor of Utah, when it could really matter. Recent polls show Romney leading in the state.
The change, though, could cost taxpayers up to $3 million, the paper reported.
“Losing his home state wouldn’t be devastating to Huntsman,” Reid Wilson, editor of National Journal Hotline, told the newspaper. “But it would prove a major embarrassment and at a time when every single news story is crucial, it would raise questions about why he lost the one state he should definitely win.”