HAMPSTEAD, N.H. — After taking a couple questions from reporters in the parking lot of the Bean Towne Coffee House and Cafe, Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman turned to get into the black sport utility vehicle parked to ferry him to the next event.
But there was no driver on Sunday afternoon waiting on him. Huntsman, wearing a bomber jacket boasting his former title of governor of Utah, jumped into the driver’s seat of the vehicle and chauffeured himself and his staff away down Hwy. 111.
“He likes to drive when he knows where he’s going,” spokesman Tim Miller told The Daily Caller.
More than one hundred onlookers showed up to hear him speak, with dozens more who couldn’t find a place inside the coffee house standing in the parking lot. Several young men got laughs by hanging from the door and windows to steal a peak of the candidate.
Huntsman, who didn’t actively participate in the Iowa caucuses and who has spent more time in New Hampshire than any other candidate, asserted that the his campaign has the energy heading into Tuesday’s primary in the Granite State. He said his campaign is moving in a direction that “nobody would’ve predicted even a few short days ago.”
A Suffolk University poll released Sunday shows Huntsman in third place in the state, behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
“Every passing hour we get more and more momentum, I can feel the surge on the ground,” Huntsman said. “I can feel it’s very real. When the energy begins in this state, it really begins. And when it begins, there’s no turning it off.”