BREAKING RANKS

Huntsman Ditches GOP Convention

Former candidate snubs Republicans.

The other multimillionaire moderate Mormon is still peeved with his party. Jon Huntsman, who ran a go-nowhere presidential campaign before getting pummeled in New Hampshire, said Friday that he wouldn't attend the Republican national convention in Tampa this August. In fact, they’d have to do without him at all GOP events, the former Utah governor said, "until the party focuses on a bigger, bolder, more confident future for the United States." In March, Huntsman was uninvited from a Republican National Committee event after he called for the formation of a third-party—a move that some said could prefigure an independent run. In his campaign for the Republican ticket, Huntsman spent millions in personal cash only to finish a distant third in New Hampshire, and dropped out of the race. He has formally endorsed Mitt Romney.