Huntsman Will Not Light Hair On Fire

Huntsman Will Not Light Hair On Fire

Campaigning in New Hampshire, where he delivered a major foreign policy speech,Utah Governor Jon Huntsman told reporters that he's not going to "light his hair on fire" to get noticed in Tuesday night's debate.

Huntsman was asked by reporters whether he had a strategy for standing out at a Republican candidate debate, Huntsman's first debate appearance in the first-in-the-nation primary state.   "Well, you can light your hair on fire I guess. But I'm not gonna light my hair on fire," he said.

"I don't think you have to be crazy to be in the Republican Party... People go up and then they go down. I remember when I got into this race, it was Pawlenty's to lose. Then it was Bachmann's to lose, and then it was Perry's to lose," Huntsman said, referring to former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has left the contest, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who's still in, but struggling to stay viable, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose campaign has stumbled from a string of weak debate performances."

He said "So people go up and they go down." He continued "All the while, I want a steady, substantive rise, with building blocks here in New Hampshire."

Tuesday will mark Huntsman's first debate in New Hampshire. He had just entered the presidential race at the time of a June 13 GOP candidates' debate there and did not participate.

His remarks to reporters on Monday came during a visit to Tilton's Merrimack Valley Railroad Company, an old wooden train station. About 100 people gathered for his appearance, mostly St. Michael's College students on a whirlwind field trip to see Huntsman, Bachmann, Romney, and Cain stump around the state.